Jurors selected for 2013 murder case

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Opening arguments are expected to get underway today in a 2013 murder case.

Judge Shirley J. Christian in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court is hearing the case against Anthony Hopkins, 38, of West Dewey Avenue, who is accused in the Sept. 28, 2013, shooting death of James Brown, 33, who was found shot to death in the early morning hours on Truesdale Avenue on the city’s East Side.

Jury selection ended late Monday afternoon after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on a panel to hear the case.

Hopkins faces charges of aggravated murder, tampering with evidence and intimidation of a crime victim or witness.

Hopkins was not indicted for Brown’s death until Oct. 2, 2014, a day after two co-defendants, Randall Miller, and his wife, Megan Miller, pleaded guilty for their roles in Brown’s death.

Police said Brown was shot inside a 2002 Cadillac owned by Megan Miller, who was a cashier in the city finance department at the time of Brown’s slaying. When Brown’s body was found, he was lying amid shards of broken glass in the street.

Megan Miller had told police the car had not been recently cleaned, but when they served a search warrant at her home, they found that a window had been replaced and that efforts had been made to clean the car.

Investigators found shattered window-glass fragments and blood in the car and on its running board, along with glass fragments on the Millers’ garage floor and in the garage drain, police said.

Police have not said what the motive was for Brown’s slaying.

Megan Miller no longer works for the city. She pleaded guilty to a charge of falsification and is expected to testify, as is her husband, who pleaded guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

As part of their plea arrangements, both Millers are required to testify for the prosecution in the case.