Man found guilty of 2013 murder

By Joe Gorman

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

It took jurors 21/2 hours to convict a 60-year-old man of a nearly 3-year-old murder.

On Thursday, jurors found Theodore Alexander guilty of murder and felonious assault for the Sept. 29, 2013, stabbing death of Ivan West, 27, of Liberty. West was found stabbed in Alexander’s Youngstown apartment and died before paramedics could arrive.

Sentencing will be at a later date in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. The only sentence Alexander can receive is 15 years to life in prison.

In closing arguments, defense attorney John B. Juhasz said prosecutors failed to prove their case. He said there were no signs of a struggle in Alexander’s apartment; West had no defensive wounds on his body; and a knife given to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation to analyze found Alexander’s DNA on the knife handle but West’s DNA was not found on the knife blade.

Juhasz said the type of wound West died from is something akin to a mugging or robbery. He also said the knife jurors would be given to examine is not the knife used to kill West, just a knife that has similar characteristics. He said perhaps West was stabbed outside Alexander’s apartment and then died inside after coming there to seek help. There were no witnesses to the stabbing.

In her rebuttal, Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa said if West had been stabbed outside Alexander’s apartment, there would be blood on the sidewalk or steps, and there was no blood present in any of those areas.

She said West most likely was killed inside Alexander’s apartment. She discounted Juhasz’s theories of another motive or suspect for West’s death.

“I guess aliens could’ve done it as well,” Cantalamessa said. “We don’t have any evidence to show that [other motive].”

She also said prosecutors did not have to produce a motive, only show there was enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Alexander killed West.

“The only person who knows why he did it is the defendant,” Cantalamessa said.

Cantalamessa said DNA tests showed there was human DNA on the knife blade given to BCI, just not enough to match to any one person.

After the verdict, members of West’s family cried and hugged one another and prosecutors.

“We’re just glad it’s over with,” said Deborah Stevenson, West’s aunt. “It was a long journey.”