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Third trial begins in East Side shooting death
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Opening statements and testimony are expected today in the trial of a man accused in a 2009 murder.
Paul Brown, 39, will go on trial in the May 2009 shooting death of Ashten Jackson, 17, after he rejected a plea offer early Monday that would have called for him to serve an additional six months behind bars if he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Brown has had at least two mistrials in his case and has served a federal prison sentence on a firearms violation related to this case.
After he told Judge Maureen Sweeney in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court he was rejecting the prosecution’s offer, a jury was selected and they were driven to the East Side to view the crime scene before being sent home for the evening.
If convicted, Brown could face life in prison, and Judge Sweeney asked him if he realized that and wanted to change his mind. Brown said he did realize the penalty but he did not want to take a plea.
Brown is accused of killing Jackson sometime around May 24, 2009. Prosecutors say the two were participating in a robbery planned by a third man. Jackson’s body was found May 30, 2009, in a field on the East Side near where the robbery was to take place.
In 2012, a mistrial was declared because of a police report and a video that defense counsel did not have. In 2013, the murder charge was briefly dismissed when a defense lawyer claimed police tampered with Brown’s cellphone. A judge reinstated the charge, however, because testimony at a hearing showed there was no tampering.
In June 2015, the case was declared a mistrial because of a video prosecutors wanted to play that the defense had never seen before the trial. Brown’s former attorney appealed to the 7th District Court of Appeals, saying the case should be thrown out because Brown’s double jeopardy rights were being violated, but the court ruled against Brown.