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Man found guilty of complicity in murder case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Leonard Savage faces a possible sentence of life in prison after being found guilty Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court of complicity to aggravated murder.
In addition to the complicity count, Savage, 22, faces separate three- to 11-year sentences after jurors found him guilty of complicity to attempted murder.
Savage blew a kiss to a relative in the courtroom before jurors came in to deliver their verdicts, and he told family members he loves them as he was led away by deputies. He will be sentenced by Judge Lou A. D’Apolito after a pre-sentence investigation.
Trial began Nov. 16 for Savage, one of three men accused of the Nov. 14, 2015, shooting death of Thomas Owens, 33, of Burbank Avenue, who was killed while he was in a car with three other men on Myrtle Avenue. The attempted murder charges are for the other men who were in the car with Owens.
The other two defendants will be tried at later dates.
Jurors did find Savage not guilty of charges of aggravated murder and attempted murder and felonious assault, but the complicity convictions carry the same sentence as those charges.
Savage’s cousin, JC Jefferson, and his mother, Katrina Davis, both said they think Savage did not receive a fair trial and that Savage is innocent.
Jefferson said she believes that blacks should have served on the jury. Savage is black. There were no blacks on the jury.
Jefferson said in the future blacks need to serve on juries when black defendants are on trial. Davis said she agreed with Jefferson.
Davis said her son has never been in trouble with the law before.
“I feel my son was not given a fair trial,” Davis said.
Prosecutors said Savage and co-defendants Jason Heard, 20, and Jawon Himes, 26, killed Owens because Savage blamed the victim for the death of Richard Owens, no relation to Thomas Owens, who was Savage’s uncle. Richard Owens died in 2004 after a gun went off that Thomas Owens was handling. Thomas Owens pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in that case.
Prosecutors said Thomas Owens was killed in a barrage of gunfire that included .40-caliber bullets. They produced an inmate at the county jail who testified that Savage told him he used a .40-caliber handgun to shoot Thomas Owens.
Also, Judge D’Apolito had a contempt hearing after the verdict was delivered for Barry Wallace, 23, who was jailed Nov.15 for contempt of court after a picture of a witness testifying in a previous hearing was posted on social media, accompanied by a threat.
Wallace admitted to contempt of court and was given a 30-day jail sentence with credit for time served.
Wallace’s attorney, Mark Lavelle, told the judge his client claims he did not take the picture but reposted it from a social media website. Judge D’Apolito said either way, the picture interfered with the administration of justice in his courtroom.