Friday, September 15, 2017
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
It’s perhaps understandable if James Gardner, 48, is having second thoughts about testifying at the Sept. 25 murder trial of his wife’s son and nephew stemming from the 2016 shooting deaths of two motorcycle-club members and wounding of two others.
Gardner, of Iowa Avenue Northwest, wrote to Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court recently, saying he was unhappy with some aspects of his plea agreement.
He pleaded guilty in June to his role in the June 18, 2016, 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 confrontation involving the Forever Two Wheels and Brothers Regime motorcycle clubs.
Gardner was originally charged with aggravated murder, but those charges were amended in his plea agreement.
In exchange for prosecutors recommending that Gardner get between 15 and 20 years in prison, Gardner is required to testify against his wife’s relatives – her son, David H. Bailes Jr., 45, and her nephew, Charles Della-penna III, 47, both of Warren.
Bailes and Dellapenna go on trial Sept. 25 before Judge Logan. Both could get a life prison sentence if convicted of some of the charges they face – two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of felonious assault.
Gardner, Bailes and Dellapenna were part of Forever Two Wheelz, and the four other men were part of the Brothers Regime.
Gardner was in court Thursday to discuss his reservations about his plea agreement and testifying against his fellow club members.
After private discussions among the attorneys, Gardner stood before Judge Logan and said he would still take the plea agreement and testify at the trial.
“I can’t do life in prison, your honor,” he said in explanation.
Gardner took a lie-detector test earlier hoping to prove his innocence in the case, with his attorney, David Rouzzo of the Ohio Public Defender’s office saying the reason was because Gardner “never shot anyone that day, and he wants the world to know it.”
Gardner will be sentenced on two counts of complicity to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of complicity to felonious assault after the cases against Bailes and Dellapenna conclude.