43
Man already in Trumbull jail for felonious indicted on separate murder charge
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Jimmy R. Stella Jr., 37, of 7th Street Southwest, was indicted Thursday in the Oct. 17 shooting death of Mark Cleveland, 66, of Bane Street Southwest in Warren Township.
Stella has been in the Trumbull County jail since February, when he was arrested on numerous other serious charges related to an assault on his pregnant wife. His bond is $100,000 in that case.
Those charges were two counts of felonious assault, two counts of kidnapping, one count of domestic violence and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted on those charges, Stella could get about 20 years in prison.
In the homicide case, Cleveland was standing near a second-floor window of his home south of Warren, looking out, when he was hit in the leg by gunfire early Oct. 17. He died when the shot hit a major artery, a family member said.
A granddaughter of Cleveland’s, 13, who was inside the house at the time the shooting occurred, said the shooting took place in two stages, with about four shots fired at first, then a lull of about 10 minutes, then about 25 more shots fired.
Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, said Stella’s arrest in the Feb. 22 incident led investigators to obtain evidence that led to Stella being charged in the homicide.
Becker credited the Warren Township Police Department and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for their ability to uncover the evidence leading to Stella’s charges in the homicide.
Stella will be arraigned at 9:30 a.m. Friday on one count of murder with a firearm specification and a specification of being a repeat violent offender, plus improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
If convicted, he could get a life prison sentence.
Stella was sentenced to three years in prison in February 2012 after pleading guilty to two counts of cocaine possession and one of being a felon in possession of a firearm.