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Trial of former Warren man in young woman’s death moved to May
By Ed Runyan
JEFFERSON
A jury trial that was to start Wednesday for James E. Brooks, charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a young Warren woman, has been reset to May 8.
The Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court judge presiding over the case ordered a status hearing for Jan. 31.
Brooks, 42, formerly of Warren, is charged in the death of Alesha Bell, 18, of Warren, whose burned remains were found at Brooks’ home on state Route 6 in Roaming Shores in Ashtabula County on Aug. 20, 2015.
Court documents say Bell died as early as July 23, 2015. Bell’s mother reported her missing July 23.
Brooks was sentenced in federal court in Cleveland in August 2016 to more than 21 years in prison for federal drug and firearms crimes.
If convicted of the charges in Ashtabula County, he could get about 30 more years in prison.
Among his Ashtabula County charges are ones accusing him of kidnapping or abducting Bell and dealing in prostitution, both in Warren and in Roaming Shores, with Bell being one of several women from the Warren and Farrell, Pa., areas thought to have spent time at Brooks’ home.
Many female Warren residents were named in court documents as being witnesses who received subpoenas requiring them to be available to testify during the trial. Also issued subpoenas were numerous law-enforcement officers from Trumbull and Ashtabula counties.
Brooks also is charged with drug dealing in the Ashtabula County charges.
A bill of particulars filed by prosecutors in the Ashtabula County case in November describes Brooks as a human trafficker who lured women to his home, then compelled them to engage in sexual activity.
“The defendant, by his own admission, derived his income from running a prostitution ring,” the document says. “At least one of the participants will testify that once they began prostituting for [Brooks], he would not allow them to stop.”
An abuse-of-a-corpse charge accuses Brooks of burning Bell’s remains in a fire pit at his home.
The document says investigators found 11 Oxycodone tablets, 2.8 grams of cocaine and .14 grams of heroin in his home when it was searched Aug. 20, 2015. They also found digital scales frequently used for drug dealing in the home, the document says.