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Co-defendant asks for separate trial in murder case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A co-defendant in a 2018 North Side aggravated-murder case asked a judge in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to separate his case because of a video that could be prejudicial against him.
Frank Casesse, lawyer for Jalon Allen, 24, said in a motion Tuesday the video shows the Sept. 20, 2016, shooting death of Andre Harrison, 34, inside a Kensington Avenue home on the North Side, from up close.
Judge Anthony Donofrio, the trial judge, turned down a similar motion to separate trials by co-defendant David Oliver, 26, in March.
The case is set for trial Aug. 19, with a final pretrial date Aug. 2.
In his motion, Casesse writes Allen surrendered to police when he learned he was wanted for questioning and that he was at the crime scene but did not shoot Harrison and never had a weapon.
Police have video of the shooting, and that video shows Harrison being shot at extremely close range. If the trials were held together, jurors could find Allen guilty by association after viewing the video because it could inflame them, Casesse wrote.
Casesse wrote that police believed the men were at the home to rob Harrison.
A coroner’s report said a witness heard a gunshot and saw two men run from the home. Police found bags of suspected marijuana and a scale in the home, and in Harrison’s pockets police found bags of suspected marijuana and bags with a white powder inside, the coroner’s report said.