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Jury selection starts in South Side murder case
Jurors expected to hear opening arguments today
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Jury selection was completed in the trial of the second of three men accused of killing a man who was in a parked car on a South Side street.
Judge Lou D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court is hearing the case against Jason Heard, 21, of Chicago Avenue, charged with aggravated murder and attempted murder in the Nov. 14, 2015, shooting death of Thomas Owens, 33, who was killed as he sat in a parked car on Myrtle Avenue.
Three other men were in the car with Owens, but they were not hit by gunfire.
In November Leonard Savage, 22, was convicted of complicity in the death of Owens and the attempted murder of the other three men, and he was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison.
The third defendant will be tried at a later date.
Jurors are expected to hear opening arguments today.
Jurors reported to the courtroom about 10 a.m. Monday, and jury selection was completed Monday afternoon.
In the Savage trial, prosecutors said the three 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.
Savage, Heard and the third defendant, Jawon Himes, ran into Thomas Owens at a nearby bar on the South Side, and that is when they got guns and followed the car Owens was in to Myrtle Avenue, where they then shot and killed him, prosecutors said.
Heard also faces complicity charges in Thomas Owens’ death.