Office files motion to quash subpoenas

Office files motion to quash subpoenas

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s office will challenge Sean McKinney’s right to issue subpoenas.

The office filed a motion Tuesday to quash subpoenas with the Mahoning County Clerk of Court.

This came after McKinney subpoenaed more than a dozen county officials asking them to appear for depositions today and Friday.

The prosecutor’s office argues McKinney does not have the right to issue subpoenas until the court orders discovery.

No ruling has been made in the case, over which visiting Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove is presiding.

Death ruled homicide

WARREN

The Dec. 20 death of Larry M. Smith, 34, of Parkman Road Northwest, has been ruled a homicide, the result of a being shot in the back and multiple injuries resulting from a crash, the Trumbull County Coroner’s office says.

Smith was found with a gunshot wound about 8:45 p.m. Dec. 20 in a car that had crashed at Mahoning Avenue and Summit Street Northwest. He died at the scene.

Police were called to 425 Southern Blvd. NW for a report of gunfire. As officers were on their way there, they received other calls of a car leaving the parking lot at high speed. Then they learned of the crash.

Smith’s death was the city’s 12th homicide of 2017, but no ruling has been provided on the Tuesday morning shooting death of Scott E. Rockenfelder Jr. Warren had four homicides each in 2015 and 2016.

Man pleads not guilty to misdemeanor assault

WARREN

A city man pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault Wednesday in Warren Municipal Court, accused of holding a knife to a woman’s neck early Christmas Day, causing a cut on her neck that did not require medical treatment.

Bond for Tyreek L. Barnett, 22, of South Oakland Avenue in Sharon, Pa., was set at $15,000.

The victim, 34, of a different Warren address, called 911 at 1:11 a.m. to a home on Commerce Avenue Northwest, saying Barnett tried to persuade her to sell her child’s Christmas presents. When she told him no, he assaulted her, she said.

The second time they fought, Barnett pulled a knife, and the woman grabbed a knife to defend herself.

She said Barnett choked her until she gasped for air. Her son, 11, stepped in and broke up the fight, she said.

The woman said Barnett tried to hit her son with the stick. The woman had a small cut on her hand, police said.

Prayer service planned

BROOKFIELD

A prayer service conducted by the Rev. Monica Beasley-Martin of Defenders of the Earth Outreach Mission will commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Dec. 31, 2011, earthquake that shook Youngstown and was determined to be linked to an injection well.

The service will take place at 1 p.m. today in the gazebo on the village green in Brookfield.

The event will focus on raising opposition to five proposed injection wells to be located in Brookfield, according to a news release from the Frackfree America National Coalition which will attend the event.

Austintown man accused of groping

AUSTINTOWN

A township woman has accused a man of groping and attempting to kiss her after he was hired to drive her to Warren.

The 27-year-old woman hired a driver to take her to a friend’s home in Warren early Friday. She told police the driver introduced himself, began talking to her, and, according to the report, became flirtatious.

She said the driver then placed his hand on her thigh, and she told him to stop, the report said. She said he responded: “Oh come on, you American girls like it.” The driver proceeded to grab the woman’s breast, the report said.

The woman said she plans to pursue charges against the driver, the report said.

Competent to stand trial

WARREN

Nearly a year after his attorney asked Judge W. Wyatt McKay to determine whether murder defendant Shawn R. Simpson was competent to stand trial, Simpson and his attorney have agreed that he is.

At a hearing Wednesday, Simpson, 23, of South Leavitt Road, agreed that two evaluations have shown that Simpson can be tried in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Becky L. Pyne, 22, on Nov. 12, 2016.

She suffered the wound at their home, and Simpson dropped her off at a Warren hospital but she died later, police said. The couple had one child together.

Judge McKay set Simpson’s trial date for May 29 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Swearing-in ceremony

LIBERTY

Atty. Mark Finamore will be swearing in Greg Cizmar and Arnie Clebone as Liberty Township trustees at noon today at the township administration building, 1315 Church Hill-Hubbard Road.

Surplus food

Victory Lutheran Church, 2110 Glenwood Ave., various commodities, 9 to 11 a.m. Friday. Recipients must have two forms of identification, present address with photo. For residents of ZIP code areas 44502, 44507 and 44511. For regular participants only. Please bring bags.

Food-distribution notices are to be submitted by 3 p.m. the day before they are to be published.

Agenda Friday

Springfield Township trustees, 10 a.m., closing-of-the-books meeting, administration building, 3475 E. South Range Road, New Springfield.

AGENDA runs daily. Items for the column should arrive at The Vindicator Regional Desk at least two days in advance.