Jury is seated in murder trial

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

jgoodwin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Testimony is under way in the trial of a 34-year-old man accused of killing the 17-year-old son of a family friend more than two years ago.

Paul Brown, formerly of Falls Avenue, appeared Wednesday before Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on murder charges that could send him to prison the rest of his life. He is represented by defense lawyer Anthony Meranto.

Robert Andrews, an assistant county prosecutor, contends Brown, along with another man, picked up 17-year-old Ashten Jackson on the night of May 25, 2009, hoping the teen would help him commit a robbery.

Andrews said something went wrong in the arrangement, and Jackson ended up dead with four gunshot wounds to his body.

The jury of six men and six women was seated for opening statements Wednesday afternoon.

Andrews told jurors the third man in the car drove Brown and Jackson to a Wardle Avenue address on the East Side where the robbery was to take place, but the driver did not want to be involved in the actual robbery, so he drove the pair to a South Side address, where Brown and Jackson got into a gold SUV with Brown driving.

Jackson returned to his home for a short period of time, Andrews said, and retrieved a gun.

After he left the house, he was never seen alive again by family members, Andrews said.

Andrews said that Jackson’s mother, April Jackson, began looking for her son and called upon Brown for help. He said Brown led the woman on a wild chase of fictitious places he and the boy had been.

Police arrested Brown on a weapons violation shortly after Jackson went missing.

The gun he was carrying is the same gun Jackson had taken from the family home the last night he was seen, Andrews said.

Jackson was ultimately found in an East Side field five days after he was last seen by his family.

Andrews told jurors they would see several unsavory characters on the witness stand, some in prison, but the facts ultimately point to Brown’s guilt.

“The people in this case live a life that most of you are probably unfamiliar with. ... That is not what this is all about,” he said. “You don’t have to like the people, but listen to what they say before you put it all together and make a decision.”

Meranto, during his opening statements, told the jury the case would definitely bring forth a “motley crew” of witnesses.

Meranto contends that Brown did not intend to commit robbery with the teen. He said Brown discouraged the boy from attempting to commit the robbery and instead offered him pills to sell.

Meranto said there are witness statements that vary widely in the case and the prosecution needs more evidence in order to convict his client of murder.

“Bad things happen when people are of a mind to engage in criminal behavior,” Meranto said. “Before you are going to convict someone of murder you are going to require more evidence than the state can provide,” he said.