Defendant’s attorney asks that murder trial be moved out of Trumbull County

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The defense team representing a Texas man charged with a 2013 shooting death that ramped up anxieties in Warren has asked that his trial be moved to another community and that certain information be kept from a jury.

TaShawn Walker, 27, of Baytown, Texas, is scheduled for trial on aggravated murder, carrying a concealed weapon and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle Monday in the courtroom of Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Walker is accused of shooting and killing Richard Rollison IV, 24, of Niles, at the Sunoco gas station on West Market Street on Oct. 26, 2013.

That was one week after Walker’s brother, Taemarr Walker, 24, was killed by a Warren police officer during a confrontation on Risher Road Southwest.

But a motion filed by TaShawn Walker’s attorneys asks that Judge Kontos refuse to allow Trumbull County prosecutors to introduce evidence at trial relating to allegations that TaShawn Walker and his father, Thomas Walker, 44, confronted people at the J&L Tavern on Highland Avenue Southwest in Warren Township about 20 minutes before Rollison was fatally shot. Warren Township police said the Walkers accused people at the tavern of celebrating Taemarr Walker’s death.

Gunshots were fired at the tavern, but none of the shell casings matches any of the weapons used in the gas-station shooting, the filing says.

“In discussions with the prosecutor, he has indicated his belief that [TaShawn Walker] was present at the J&L Lounge. There are no facts to support this belief,” Walker’s attorneys said. “Even if the government could prove the defendant was present at the J&L Lounge, testimony and evidence regarding the incident at J&L Lounge is inadmissible as ‘other act’ evidence,” the filing says.

Ohio law prevents the use of “other acts” information because it could prejudice a jury, the filing says.

Another filing says the trial should be moved from Trumbull County because the jury pool has been tainted by media coverage of the case.

“The impact from the outcry and tension in the City of Warren after Taemarr Walker’s [death] not only led to extensive media coverage, for the first time that anyone can remember, the weekend high-school football game was canceled, local schools were placed on lockdown and social media communications were monitored by the police,” the filing says.

The filing listed one television station’s report that said Rollison “was shot and killed a year ago outside the Sunoco gas station on West Market Street by TaShawn Walker, as if the trial had occurred” and TaShawn Walker had been convicted.

The filing mentions comments written by bloggers on one news site that indicated that the authors assumed TaShawn Walker was guilty of Rollison’s murder.

The filing listed 37 newspaper articles and television broadcasts dating back to October 2013 that mention the TaShawn Walker case.

Judge Kontos has not replied to any of the motions.