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Case dismissed in funeral shooting at Brownlee Woods church
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man facing a weapons offense for a shooting at a funeral had charges dismissed against him in municipal court.
The case against Vernon Johnson, 22, can be re-filed at a later date if a witness prosecutors need to testify in a preliminary hearing can be found, Judge Elizabeth Kobly said Friday.
Assistant City Prosecutor Jeffrey Moliterno told Judge Kobly prosecutors could not find a witness they needed to testify at a preliminary hearing.
Judge Kobly had granted a motion June 23 to continue the hearing because the witness could not be found for that hearing, either.
Moliterno said prosecutors wanted to present the case directly to a Mahoning County grand jury Thursday but that effort did not succeed.
Johnson was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm for a March 31 shooting at a funeral for homicide victim Marquise Shelton at the New Vision New Day Church at Everett and Irma avenues in the Brownlee Woods area of the South Side.
The shooting at the service occurred when two people got into an argument inside the church. One person went outside to retrieve a gun and began firing. The church was not hit by gunfire, but several cars were damaged. No one was injured in the shooting.
Johnson was charged a few days later, but he was not found until June 10 in a home in the 3400 block of Neilson Avenue. He was taken into custody without incident.
Johnson still faces a probation violation charge Aug. 16 before Judge Robert Milich for violating the terms of his probation. He was found guilty in 2014 of a drug charge.
Johnson had faced a weapons charge in June 2015, when he was accused of shooting himself in the hand in Boardman, then falsely reporting a robbery to cover up the crime.
Court records show he pleaded no contest in that case to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon. He was found guilty and sentenced to time served in the county jail, where he served 30 days while awaiting the outcome of his case.
Court records also show he had to forfeit the gun he had at the time to the township police department.