Grandmother of Austin, Henderson speaks after sentencings

By Joe Gorman

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Mary Howell says her grandsons Michael Austin and Hakeem Henderson were convicted of multiple murders without any physical evidence.

Howell said she will fight to see the May 5 convictions in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court oveturned.

Austin, 22, was convicted on three counts of aggravated murder and of a murder, while Henderson, 24, was convicted on two counts of aggravated murder.

The pair were both convicted of aggravated murder in the deaths of Adam Christian, 23, and Raymond “Ramel” Hayes, 20, on Nov. 13 and 16, 2011, respectively. Austin was convicted of aggravated murder for the death of Ryan Slade, 20, and murder for the death of Keara McCullough, 19, in September 2012 as they sat in a car on Benford Lane. Henderson was found not guilty of those murders.

Assistant Prosecutor Martin Desmond and his co-counsel, Michael Yacovone and Nick Brevetta, said after the trial that they had plenty of evidence to back up witness testimony.

They had statements by witnesses, he added, that could back up the testimony of other witnesses – and in the case of one of the murders, there was eyewitness testimony.

“There was evidence that could be corroborated and direct evidence from witnesses who spoke to the defendants and eyewitness testimony,” Desmond said.

Desmond also said there was enough evidence to convince 12 people that the two were guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He also said that Howell did not attend many of the pretrial hearings in the case where rulings were made on issues regarding evidence.

“Obviously, her opinion is not only slanted, but inaccurate and uninformed,” Desmond said.

The pair also were convicted of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Prosecutors said the two were enforcers for a drug ring. Judge John Durkin on May 11 sentenced Austin to life in prison with no parole and Henderson to 36 years to life in prison. Both men are appealing their convictions.

Howell said she is mystified as to how the pair could be convicted without any physical evidence, such as fingerprints, DNA or weapons linking her grandsons to the crimes – an argument the lawyers for the men also raised during the trial.

The witnesses who testified against her grandsons were all people who had something to gain in terms of lighter sentences for crimes they were accused of, Howell said. When asked why so many people, some of whom do not know one another, would decide to offer information against her grandsons rather than against someone else, Howell said she could not answer that.

“I don’t know how those people [witnesses] knew them,” Howell said.

Howell also said allegations that supporters of her grandsons threatened witnesses in the case are untrue. Howell said other than when the verdict was delivered, the families often sat together.

Desmond said he could not go into greater detail because four more people still await trial for their roles in the case, but he said authorities have evidence that there were threats made in the case.

“We have substantial proof that witnesses were threatened and intimidated throughout the course of this case,” Desmond said.

Security was tighter than normal for the trial.

Howell said her grandsons were not tried by a jury of their peers. She said all of the jurors were older people who were white. Her grandsons are black. Austin also made the same claim just before closing arguments when he stood up and told Judge Durkin he did not think he was receiving a fair trial.

Howell said her grandsons have the same mother but different fathers. Austin’s father, Michael Austin Sr., is serving a prison sentence for a 1993 murder he was convicted of in 1994. She said her grandsons are getting the same treatment as her son, who she said was railroaded during his trial and that he acted in self-defense in January 1993 when he shot Clarence Jones, 20, on Albert Street.

After her son’s trial, Vindicator files also show that Howell blasted the jury in that case, saying that they did not understand life in the city’s housing projects.

Howell also said she was upset at the way her grandsons were portrayed, especially Austin. She said prosecutors and the judge do not know that Austin had good grades in school, and she also said that Austin was wanted on an unrelated case and she persuaded him to return home from Alabama. That was when he was arrested and indicted.