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Testimony underway in Palmer Avenue murder trial
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Prosecutors in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court told jurors Monday a woman bought a couch from the home of a Palmer Avenue man last August while the man’s body was decomposing in the basement.
Assistant Prosecutor Michael Rich said in opening statements of the murder trial of Wallace Lewis, 28, of Steel Street, that the daughter of the victim saw him arguing with Wallace a few days before the victim was killed.
David Engler, who represents Lewis, said his client is innocent and is being framed by his two co-defendants, Felicia Ward, 25, and Calvin Shelton, 28, because they want to get out of jail. Rich said both are expected to testify in the trial against Lewis.
Lewis is accused of the Aug. 10, 2016, stabbing death of Howard Ramey, 53, who was found two days after he was stabbed in a fruit cellar in the basement of his Palmer Avenue home on the South Side. He died of at least 25 stab wounds to the head and neck.
Jurors were selected last week before Judge Maureen Sweeney before testimony began Monday. Lewis faces charges of murder and tampering with evidence.
Rich told jurors that after Ramey was killed, Lewis sold a couch in his home to an unsuspecting woman who had no idea Ramey’s body was in the basement.
“Little did she know that Howard Ramey’s body was in the basement of this house,” Rich said.
Ramey’s daughter also testified about an argument she saw her father and Lewis get into a few days before Ramey died because Ramey demanded money for rent from Lewis, who was staying at his home. The daughter testified that Lewis was upset because he had given Ramey crack cocaine for rent and did not want to also give him money. The daughter acknowledged that her father was battling a drug problem.
Engler said no DNA evidence linked Lewis to Ramey’s death and none of Lewis’ DNA was ever found in the basement. He said Ward and Shelton were in jail after being indicted for Ramey’s murder and they decided to frame Lewis so they would not be charged with murder. They are both facing four-year sentences in exchange for their cooperation, Engler said, instead of much longer sentences that could come from being convicted of murder.