Trial begins in Akron cop’s fatal shooting
Associated Press
AKRON
A prosecutor told jurors Monday that a man on trial on a charge of aggravated murder in the fatal shooting of an off- duty Akron police officer returned to the bar after being kicked out with revenge on his mind.
A defense attorney countered in his opening statement that 36-year-old Kenan Ivery came back to retrieve a container of chicken wings that he’d forgotten, and that 32-year-old Justin Winebrenner still would be alive if a bar patron had allowed Ivery to get his food and leave.
Attorney John Greven told jurors that Ivery never meant to shoot anyone and that the gun he was carrying began firing “randomly” when Winebrenner and others knocked him to the ground.
Both sides said a key piece of evidence in the trial will be footage from a security camera that shows the initial confrontation inside the bar. The trial began Monday in Summit County Common Pleas Court.
Ivery could be sentenced to death if he’s convicted of aggravated murder in the fatal shooting of Winebrenner on Nov. 16 in Akron.
Two of the four shots fired struck Winebrenner. Three people were wounded and a man was grazed by the other two shots.
Winebrenner, his fiancee and Ivery were at the bar after separately attending a fundraiser for a youth football team coached by Akron police officers. Ivery’s son played on the team.
Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel told jurors that Winebrenner’s fiancee, who owns the bar with her father, told Ivery to leave after a female patron complained that Ivery had made her feel uncomfortable.