Top court refuses to hear double murder appeal

YOUNGSTOWN — The Ohio Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from a man serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for an August 2009 double suffocation murder.

In doing so on Wednesday, the top court left intact a 7th District Court of Appeals ruling that affirmed the conviction of Lorenza Barnette, 33, in the deaths of 20-year-old Jaron L. Roland and 19-year-old Darry B. Woods-Burt Jr.

The victims’ bodies were found in a burning car on West Avenue near the Mahoning River. They had been bound with duct tape, and bags had been placed over their heads.

Barnette had faced the death penalty, but the jury that convicted him recommended the life without parole sentence, which Judge Maureen A. Sweeney, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, imposed on him.

Atty. J. Gerald Ingram filed the appeal, which said Barnette didn’t get a proper trial because defense counsel wasn’t allowed to question a city detective about his departmental discipline or to question another witness about new criminal charges filed against him based on his alleged conduct the night before he testified in Barnette’s trial.

For the complete story, read Friday's Vindicator and Vindy.com