Staff photos / Guy Vogrin Devonte J. Douglas, top left, is scheduled to be tried in the death of Adreionna Faith Hasley-Crockett, whose body was found Dec. 16, 2021, in a vehicle parked in a pull off near Siefert Lewis Road in Hubbard Township. Shamar Askew, 19, bottom left, listens during Friday’s hearing to suppress evidence. Askew is accused of killing the matriarch of the Lewis family of Warren. His trial is among the prominent murder trials scheduled in Trumbull County for the fall. Kemari James, bottom right, faces a jury trial in the April 26, 2020, fatal shooting of La’Nesha Workman, 26, and her unborn baby at a home in the 1600 block of Ogden Avenue NW. And Dominic Harvey, top right, is accused of the July 21 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Jauton Lee Jr. and wounding of 24-year-old Mitchell Powell, both of Warren.

WARREN — Courthouse jury trials have been infrequent since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic about 30 months ago, but the Trumbull County Common Pleas docket is showing three prominent murder trials scheduled for the fall.

One judge said during all of 2020 — the height of the pandemic — only 14 trials were held at the courthouse. By 2021, however, a full docket returned to the four common pleas courts, with the number of trials increasing during 2022.

Among those facing jurors this fall are a man accused of shooting a pregnant woman to death on April 21; one accused of slaying a Youngstown woman and leaving her body in the trunk of an abandoned car parked in an rural Hubbard Township roadway; and a third man in custody at the juvenile justice center accused of shooting a matriarch of a Warren family during a drive-by at a Starlite Drive residence in February 2021.

Court action also is expected to pick up in the capital murder case of Dominic Harvey of Champion, accused of shooting to death another man during a drive-by near a popular downtown restaurant during the dinner hour.

THE JAMES CASE

Lawyers participating in the Kemari James murder proceedings early last week met with visiting Judge Gary Yost to discuss their progress as the case made its way to a scheduled Oct. 3 jury trial in the small courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse.

James faces six charges, including two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, in the April 26, 2020, fatal shooting of La’Nesha Workman, 26, and her unborn baby at a home in the 1600 block of Ogden Avenue NW. Workman died of multiple bullet wounds that also killed the baby.

James has been held in the Trumbull County jail in lieu of $2 million bond since May 15, 2020, after he was arrested in Baltimore and waived extradition. Since that arrest, James has gone through a series of attorneys and at one point had wanted to represent himself. He now is being represented by Akron counselor Walter Madison. Madison had health problems that delayed the trial that was scheduled to start Aug. 1.

In an Aug. 24 motion, Madison asked for another continuance, and that may have been what last Monday’s discussion was about in Yost’s chambers. Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker said he believes the jury selection will begin as scheduled, “unless there is another outbreak.”

DOUGLAS ACCUSED

Devonte J. Douglas, 26, of Dogwood Lane, Youngstown, is scheduled to be tried Oct. 24 before Judge W. Wyatt McKay on charges of aggravated murder with firearm specification, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. He is accused of causing the death of Adreionna Faith Hasley-Crockett, 22, 1324 Dogwood Lane, Youngstown, whose body was found Dec. 16, 2021, in a vehicle parked in a pull off near Siefert Lewis Road in Hubbard Township. Douglas was arrested later that day after he showed up at the Youngstown Police Department in an attempt to get a car out of impound.

In late April of this year, McKay found Douglas competent to stand trial after the defendant was examined by a psychologist with the Forensic Psychiatric Center of Northeast Ohio in Austintown. The judge also heard complaints from Douglas about his infrequent visits with his public defender.

Another hearing is set for Sept. 28 before McKay — who is retiring at the end of the year after 36 years on the bench.

KILLING OF MATRIARCH

McKay also is scheduled to preside over the murder trial of Shamar Askew, 19, who presently is housed in the juvenile justice center. A rare two-part hearing to suppress evidence was completed Friday in McKay’s courtroom

Askew, of Homewood Avenue SE, who is accused of the drive-by shooting death of 89-year-old Ruth Lewis in February 2021, wants evidence kept from jurors that was obtained during his arrest and subsequent interview with a police detective.

Lewis, the well-known matriarch of a family that has been linked to violence over the years, was shot to death while she sat in her wheelchair in a Starlite Drive NW home on Feb. 28, 2021. Lewis’ family had gathered there after the funeral of another relative.

At two hearings this summer, Askew’s lawyers –public defenders Gene Fehr and Cristina Sibley, argued they want evidence — namely a 9mm Taurus handgun found in Askew’s pocket and his cellphone — kept from potential jurors. They also questioned whether their client’s due process and other rights were violated during the subsequent interview on March 11 with a Warren detective.

At Friday’s hearing, Askew’s mother said she was not allowed to speak to her son during the interview with the detective. McKay said he will have a decision on the admission of evidence by the end of October after both sides submit their final briefs on the subject.

MARKET STREET SHOOTING

A 20-year-old Champion man sits in Trumbull County jail without bail facing death-penalty level charges for a shooting death of in the early evening of July 21 during a drive-by on West Market Street. The car the victim was riding in pulled into the busy Hot Dog Shoppe restaurant lot.

Dominic Harvey, 20, of Hillsdale Drive NW, is charged with aggravated murder with a specification of aggravating circumstances and firearm specifications, attempted aggravated murder with firearms specifications, tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property. Harvey is accused of the July 21 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Jauton Lee Jr. and wounding of 24-year-old Mitchell Powell, both of Warren.

The aggravating circumstances — Harvey being accused of a course of conduct that resulted in the death or attempt to kill two or more people — carry a maximum penalty of death or life without parole. The firearm specifications involve allege drive-by shootings with a gun involved, each carrying mandatory five-year and three-year prison sentences added to any other sentence if Harvey is found guilty.

An affidavit unsealed by the court on Aug. 8 shows that Detective John Greaver sought a warrant to search a black 2008 Honda Accord for a firearm that Harvey said was being waved from the car containing both Powell and Lee. Harvey told the detective Lee had waived a gun at him and that is why he shot at the car.

Detectives on July 26 searched the vehicle that Powell and Lee were in when they were shot, and a firearm connected to the shooting was not found.

After being hit by a bullet, Powell turned the vehicle into the restaurant’s parking lot, got out and entered the back seat of a 2008 Honda Accord, and he was taken to the hospital emergency room.

Three people were in the Honda when Powell got in. One occupant of the Honda told a detective Powell did not bring a gun into the car. A firearm was found in the Honda not tied to the shooting, the affidavit states, and the witnesses claimed the gun was in the car before Powell got in.

Harvey has hired Cleveland area attorney Morgan Caruso, and the pair will be in court for pretrial hearing on Wednesday. A date for a jury trial has not been set in the case.