Man accused in Niles shooting death wants evidence suppressed

By Ed Runyan | July 3, 2019 at 12:05a.m.

WARREN

Ryan Daniels Sr., accused of accidentally shooting to death a woman in the parking lot of the Hideaway Lounge on Youngstown Road in Niles, has asked that gun evidence Niles police obtained be suppressed.

Daniels, 28, of Bonnie Brae Avenue Southeast, was indicted on reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter, both with gun specifications, and possessing firearms in a liquor permit premises for the 2:15 a.m. Feb. 24 shooting.

A Niles detective testified at a hearing he thinks Daniels accidentally shot Britney Mazanec, 33, of Niles, by slapping the passenger window of her car twice as she drove out of the parking lot. The second slap caused the firearm in his hand to fire, hitting Mazanec.

Daniels said Mazanec’s car “brushed” him on the way past him. Daniels left the scene after the shooting, but he later surrendered to police. He is free on bond.

In a Monday filing in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, defense attorney John Juhasz asked that evidence related to a handgun, a bullet casing, a bullet removed from Mazanec’s body and testimony concerning any of those things be removed from evidence.

Juhasz said Niles police recovered the gun-related items from Daniels’ home later the morning of the shooting with help from a “private citizen,” who “started making phone calls” and got in contact with a woman who had lived with Daniels earlier. Niles police asked the citizen for his help.

The woman, whose name was on the lease but no longer lived there, granted the citizen access to Daniels’ home on Bonnie Brae. The man then searched the home without a warrant and retrieved the items and gave them to Niles police.

Juhasz said in the filing the man did not obtain consent from Daniels, nor did the police, to search the home, which Juhasz said violates Daniels’ right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

Though the woman was on the lease, she “no more possessed authority to give consent than would a spouse who moved out of the marital residence upon separation of divorce,” Juhasz said.

Prosecutors have not yet filed a reply brief on the filing, which requests a hearing.