Prosecutors dismiss aggravated murder charge

YOUNGSTOWN

Prosecutors dismissed an aggravated murder charge today against a man charged in a 2010 homicide because a key prosecution witness recanted his previous statements and took responsibility for the crime.

Elijah Alexander, 26, was set to go on trial Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court before Judge Shirley J. Christian for the Jan. 12, 2010, murder of Rodney Weaver, 25, of Catalina Avenue, during a robbery. The case was indicted in 2011.

Assistant Prosecutor Nicholas Brevetta said an accomplice of Alexander, Thomas Wright, 28, recanted statements last week he made to prosecutors about the crime and took responsibility for the shooting.

Brevetta said Wright now faces indictments for aggravated murder and perjury, because the previous statements were under oath, and he hopes to reindict Wright on those charges soon.

Although Alexander cannot be freed from the county jail, Brevetta said he also expects Alexander to be reindicted on complicity charges in the case as well.