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Lawyer seeks to suppress statement in store owner murder case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The lawyer for a man accused of killing a South Avenue store owner filed a motion to suppress statements his client made to police while he was being treated for injuries he suffered in the same incident.
During a hearing Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Larry McDonald, 19, of Truman Avenue, was still in a wheelchair because of wounds he suffered when Abdullah Nagi Mahdi, 29, was killed at Mahdi’s Reemas Fashion store on South Avenue on Nov. 19.
McDonald’s lawyer, Tom Zena, is asking Judge R. Scott Krichbaum to suppress statements his client made to detectives the day after the killing at the store.
Police said McDonald tried to rob the store and Mahdi had a gun and tried to stop him. McDonald also had a gun, and the two exchanged gunfire. Mahdi was killed and McDonald was wounded and held by customers and employees until police arrived. He spent several weeks at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital being treated for his wounds.
McDonald faces charges of aggravated murder, murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The additional counts stem from the robbery of a similar store Mahdi owned on Belmont Avenue the day before he was slain.
Several relatives and friends of Mahdi’s were in court for the pretrial hearing, and afterward they said the Belmont Avenue store has closed.
In his motion to suppress, Zena said when his client was questioned at the hospital, he was under the influence of pain medication and was in severe pain and could not knowingly and voluntarily waive his rights.
The motion states that a defendant must be able to “understand and appreciate” his rights and what could happen if they waive them.
Zena also filed a motion asking that both robbery charges be tried separately.
Judge Krichbaum will have a hearing Wednesday on both motions before making a decision. The case is set to go trial March 16.