Pretrial hearing

Pretrial hearing

WARREN

The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office is planning to move forward with a pretrial hearing at 11 a.m. Friday in common pleas court in the murder case of Jacob Larosa, 16, of Niles, after a dismissal of an appeal Larosa’s attorneys filed.

The defense lawyers argued the decision of Judge Sandra Stabile Harwood of juvenile court that sent Larosa’s case to the common pleas court for him to be tried as an adult could be appealed.

But two of the three judges in the 11th District Court of Appeals disagreed.

Larosa, of Lafayette Avenue, is charged with aggravated murder and several other charges in the March 31 beating death of his neighbor, Marie Belcastro, 94, of Cherry Street in Niles. Larosa was 15 at the time of Belcastro’s death.

1-minute meeting

NILES

Niles City Council had a one-minute meeting Monday and gave a second reading to Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia’s amended financial recovery plan.

By the same 5-2 vote as on Wednesday, council voted to give a second reading but not approve the plan. Members Steve Papalas, D-at large, and Steve Mientkiewicz, D-2nd, were the no votes, just as they were Wednesday. Another meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. today to presumably give it a third reading and final approval.

Papalas and Mientkiewicz refused to approve the plan because it does not call for moving police dispatching to the Trumbull County 911 center, which would save the city about $330,000.

Motorcycle accident

BOARDMAN

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating a crash that left one person with nonlife-threatening injuries.

The collision, between a car and a motorcycle, occurred about 5:30 p.m. Monday on Market Street near Wilma Avenue.

A motorcycle traveling northbound on Market Street struck a Pontiac in the side, OSHP reported. A 16-year-old girl driving the car was attempting to leave the O’Reilly Auto Parts parking lot on Market and turn southbound.

The motorcycle’s driver, a 32-year-old Youngstown man, was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital on Belmont Avenue. At the time of the crash, he was wearing a helmet.

Both the car’s driver and a juvenile passenger were uninjured.

Boardman Township police also responded to the scene.

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