Trial in motorcycle club killings delayed again

WARREN — The trial scheduled to begin today in killing of two Leavittsburg motorcycle club members and wounding of two others has been delayed a second time by issues with witnesses.

The trial of David Bailes Jr. and Charles Dellapenna III was supposed to begin with jury selection this morning in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, but it will not happen, court officials said.

The trial also was set to begin last week but was pushed back one week by issues with two witnesses who were going to be unavailable. One of those witnesses, a ballistics expert with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, was not available again this week.

A hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss a new trial date.

Bailes, 45, and Dellapenna III, 47, both of Warren, were set to go on trial in the shooting deaths of Jason Moore, 41, of Bristolville and Robert Marto, 54, of Cortland, and the wounding of Andrew Claypool, 50, of Girard and Walter Hughes, 41, of Warren.

The shootings occurred at Shorty’s Place tavern on Highland Avenue in Warren Township in a June 18, 2016, confrontation involving the Forever Two Wheels and Brothers Regime motorcycle clubs.

Bailes and Dellapenna were members of Forever Two Wheelz, and the others were members of the Brothers Regime.

Bailes and Dellapenna could both face life in prison if convicted of some of the charges they face – two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of felonious assault.