Larosa trial in murder of Niles woman set back to March 20 next year

WARREN

During the first hearing since the Ohio Supreme Court sent Jacob Larosa's murder case back to the adult court, the judge approved moving the trial date back to March 20 of next year.

The hearing was held this morning in the courtroom of Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Judge McKay also approved Larosa's request for an expert to investigate the case.

And he also set a potential hearing date for Nov. 21 on a motion to suppress that Larosa's attorneys plan to file.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in June that it did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeal in the case and was sending it back to Judge McKay.

The justices refused to hear an appeal of a decision of Judge Sandra Stabile Harwood of Trumbull County Juvenile Court to have Larosa, 16, of Niles, tried as an adult in the March 31, 2015, murder of his neighbor, Marie Belcastro, 94.

Larosa, of Lafayette Avenue, is charged with aggravated murder, attempted rape, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary and could get life in prison with no chance at parole if convicted in common pleas court. He was 15 at the time of Belcastro’s death.