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Jury delivers verdicts in murder case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Michael Rich, a Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, said the video in the trial of a man accused of a November 2015 murder on a South Side street doesn’t lie, but the defendant does.
A jury apparently believed Rich, after it found 21-year-old Jason Heard guilty Friday afternoon of complicity to commit aggravated murder and three counts of complicity to commit attempted murder in the Nov. 14, 2015, shooting death of Thomas Owens, 33, as he sat in a car with three other men on East Myrtle Avenue.
Judge Lou D’Apolito, who presided over the case, will sentence Heard at a later date.
During closing arguments in common pleas court in Heard’s aggravated murder and attempted murder trial, Rich said video shows Heard holding a gun outside a South Side bar and shows him getting into a car that prosecutors say was involved in Owens’ death.
Rich counted off Heard’s excuses to police and compared them to the video, which Rich said contradicted all his excuses. He tallied five in all.
“Lie after lie after lie after lie,” Rich said. “Who lies? Guilty people lie.”
Heard’s attorney, Tony Meranto, said the video is compelling, but he asked jurors to keep in mind a key prosecution witness was allowed to view the video the day before he testified in court.
“All of a sudden, the story fits right in with the video,” Meranto said.
Heard is one of three people accused of the death of Owens, who was killed Nov. 14, 2015, as he sat in a parked car on East Myrtle Avenue with three other men.
In November, Leonard Savage, 22, was convicted of complicity to commit aggravated murder and three counts of complicity to commit attempted murder and sentenced to 35 years to life in prison. A third defendant, Jawonn Hymes, 26, will be tried at a later date.
Prosecutors said Thomas Owens was killed because he pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in 2004 for killing Richard Owens, no relation and an uncle of Savage’s, as he was handling a gun and the gun went off.
Prosecutors said Savage and Heard saw Thomas Owens and his friends while they were bar hopping and met up with Hymes at a Glenwood Avenue bar, where video shows them getting into a car that followed the car Thomas Owens was in onto East Myrtle Avenue.
A couple of minutes later, Heard and the others came back. The video also shows Heard holding a gun and putting on gloves before he gets into the car, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors relied heavily on the video from the Glenwood bar, which was viewed by city police detectives, including Detective Sgt. Michael Lambert, the lead investigator on the case, and also used during the Savage trial.