YOUNGSTOWN — Traeshaun Turner testified he was involved in a Sept. 8 2020, gunfight outside a South Side bar and acted in self defense to kill another man.

In a closing argument this morning, assistant Prosecutor Kevin Day refuted that testimony by telling jurors two female witnesses had testified the victim had no gun and two people were shot in the back. “He acted like a coward” Day said about Turner.

Jurors in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court are expected to start deliberating by early afternoon. They have been given a self-defense instruction by Judge John Durkin.

Turner, 26, is charged with aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and having weapons under restrictions. He is accused of shooting 25-year-old Ishmael Bethel to death and wounding a teenage girl after shots were fired on the side street near the bar. Earlier testimony showed an argument had started between Turner and the two gunshot victims over a $40 debt.