Co-defendant takes plea in West Side murder case

By Joe Gorman | April 17, 2019 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

One of two defendants in a June 2017 shooting death pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Barraya Hickson, 26, pleaded guilty Tuesday before Judge Anthony Donofrio to a charge of obstructing justice. Prosecutors are recommending probation. She will be sentenced after her co-defendant, Dashonti Baker, 26, goes on trial for the murder of Rae’venna Faircloth-Thomas, 24, who was found shot to death last summer in an SUV on Oneta Street.

Jury selection in the trial started Monday when Hickson turned down a similar plea offer.

The jury selection was put on hold after Baker’s lawyer and family discussed for over three hours a potential plea for him, but Baker has refused to accept a plea. He faces a charge of aggravated murder. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

Jury selection is expected to continue today for his trial.

Hickson’s attorney, Lou DeFabio, said his client changed her mind after going through the first day of jury selection Monday and realizing if she was convicted, she could spend the rest of her life in prison.

“That is a risk she does not wish to take,” DeFabio told the judge.

Faircloth-Thomas was found in the driver’s seat of an SUV about 12:30 p.m. June 23, 2017. She was shot six times. County coroner’s investigators and crime-scene personnel found five shell casings and a spent bullet in the front of the SUV where she had been sitting.

Police said Faircloth-Thomas was killed because of property and monetary disputes with her boyfriend.