Saturday, November 21, 2015
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
One man was arraigned Friday in municipal court on a charge of aggravated murder and another for obstruction of justice in a different homicide.
Jason Heard, 19, is in the Mahoning County jail on $300,000 bond after his arraignment on the aggravated-murder charge, plus three attempted-murder charges in the shooting death Nov. 14 of Thomas Owens, 33, who was killed while he was sitting in a parked car with three other people in the 500 block of West Myrtle Avenue.
One of the people in the car with Owens, Tony Brown, 34, was shot and killed late Tuesday while he was standing outside the Southern Tavern, 1508 Glenwood Ave.
Five other people, including Daniel Harris, 36, were wounded. Harris is accused of killing Brown.
Municipal court records show that Harris faces a charge of aggravated murder and four counts of felonious assault.
He has yet to be arraigned.
Gregory Stanford, 28, was given a bond of $35,000 on an obstruction of official business charge relating to the death of Brown.
He was to be arraigned in municipal court Friday but was not because of a mix-up.
If he can post the bond, he will be back Monday for his arraignment on the charge.
City Prosecutor Dana Lantz said investigators have video showing Stanford driving Harris to the crime scene. She said the video shows Harris getting out of the car and then returning to the car. Stanford then drove Harris to the hospital.
Investigators say Harris, who is related to Owens, was upset at Brown because he thought Brown had something to with the death of Owens. Police, however, do not think Brown had anything to do with Owens’ death.
Stanford’s attorney, Lou DeFabio, said his client had no idea that a shooting was to take place.
DeFabio told the judge his client parked a distance away from the bar – although Lantz said it was across the street – and after the shots were fired, he drove Harris to the hospital and was not a participant. DeFabio also said his client had turned himself in to police Wednesday when he found out they wanted to question him, and Stanford has no prior criminal record.
Lantz wanted a $50,000 bond and DeFabio a $20,000 bond.
When Heard was arraigned, Lantz said he is also seen on video getting into a car with a gun, a car that followed the car Owens was in. She would not say where the video was taken and Detective Sgt. Mike Lambert, lead investigator on the case, said detectives are still trying to determine the motive for Owens’ death and the circumstances before he was shot.