Thursday, September 17, 2015
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Young people have a tendency to follow, but that also means they do not watch out for who is leading them, a judge told two women he sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for their role in a homicide last August.
Judge Lou D’Apolito said in the future, Roujxe Ezell and Carlisha Hammonds, both 20, have to slow down and realize the consequences of their actions before they do something and to be careful about who they follow.
“You’d be amazed at who leads the pack,” Judge D’Apolito said Wednesday.
Hammonds, of St. Louis Avenue, and Ezell, of Volney Road, were each sentenced to probation for a charge of aggravated riot that led to the death of Shawn Cortez, 17, on Aug. 17, 2014, on Winona Drive.
Charges of involuntary manslaughter were dropped in exchange for their pleas, provided they cooperated with police.
A total of 15 people were indicted and have pleaded guilty for their roles in the death of Cortez, who was killed as two groups of people argued in the street as part of a prearranged fight recorded on cellphone video by two women, later learned to be Ezell and Hammonds.
Ezell was one of those who was videotaping, and she gave her phone to police right away, said her attorney Ron Yarwood.
“She was instrumental in this investigation,” Yarwood said.
Hammonds’ lawyer, Lou DeFabio, said his client also tried to give Cortez first aid after he was shot, as did Ezell, and Hammonds was also the first to call 911.
DeFabio also said his client has served 10 months in the county jail while awaiting the outcome of the case, although she was free on bond pending sentencing.
Both women also have jobs, their attorneys told the judge.
Judge D’Apolito said presentence reports showed both women are bright and have potential, but he added they have to act more mature than they did the day Cortez was killed.
“You’re both capable of being productive and crime-free citizens of the community,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Brothers Dejon Jenkins, 19, and David Jenkins, 18, originally were charged with murder for the death of Cortez, but both pleaded guilty to the same charges. Prosecutors said David Jenkins fired the shot that killed Cortez, and his brother gave him the gun. The brothers have yet to be sentenced.
Prosecutors said the reason for the fight was that Cortez and the Jenkins brothers liked the same girl. The night before he was killed, the Jenkins brothers jumped Cortez at a party and beat him up, then challenged him online to a fight.
The brothers and their supporters then came to Winona Drive, where Cortez was at a house with friends.
Two men were sentenced to prison last week for their roles in the death of Cortez. Police accused Hammonds and Ezell of egging on the others in the argument, which led to their charges.