Trial begins in 2013 murder case

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The first day of testimony began Tuesday for a man accused of a murder on the East Side in 2013.

Anthony Hopkins, 38, of West Dewey Avenue, faces charges of aggravated murder, tampering with evidence and intimidation of a victim or witness to a crime for the Sept. 28, 2013, shooting death of James Brown, 33.

Hopkins is on trial before Judge Shirley J. Christian in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Brown was found lying on Truesdale Avenue amid shards of automobile glass. A husband and wife, Randall and Megan Miller, were originally charged with Brown’s death and both have pleaded guilty to separate charges in the case. They also are expected to testify against Hopkins, who was not indicted for Brown’s death until October 2014.

Testifying Tuesday were members of the police department’s crime lab, who described the crime scene for jurors and a search of the Millers’ home the day after Brown was found, as well as a crime scene analyst from the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, who testified about DNA and blood evidence found at the crime scene and other evidence.

Megan Miller had worked for the city’s finance department at the time of the murder, but she has been dismissed from her position since then.

Police said Brown had been shot in her car, but when detectives questioned her she lied to them. She pleaded guilty to a charge of falsification.

Her husband pleaded guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.