Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- A defense attorney had the night to decide whether to put his client, accused murderer defendant Traeshaun Turner, 26, on the witness stand today after a Mahoning County judge said he's leaning against giving a self-defense instruction to jurors.
The prosecution rested Wednesday afternoon as defense attorney Mark Lavelle asked the judge to consider a self-defense instruction. That occurred after a forensic expert for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation testified that 12 shell casings collected at the Sept. 8, 2020, murder scene outside the Southern Tavern at Glenwood Avenue and Cleveland Streets came from two different guns.
Common Pleas Judge John Durkin saw it differently, however.
"I believe the evidence provided at trial has so far been insufficient to prove self-defense. But that is not my final decision. You'll have a good discussion this evening," Durkin told Lavelle.
If Lavelle decides against putting up a defense this morning, the trial will go directly to closing arguments and then the jury will get the case after being instructed by Durkin.
THE CHARGES
Turner 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.
Three Youngstown police detectives were among those taking the witness stand Wednesday, including the lead investigator, Sgt. Ronald A. Barber Jr.
Barber said he questioned Turner after he turned himself in to U.S. Marshals at a Cameron Street home, after a warrant was issued for his arrest the day after the shooting. The detective said the defendant told him he was not even at the shooting scene because his car had mechanical trouble somewhere on South Avenue and his brother, who lived on the North Side, picked him up and took him to his home.
"He claimed he was somewhere else during the shooting. However, he was not specific about any of the locations, either the place where his car broke down on South Avenue or where on the North Side his brother lived," Barber said.
Barber said 12 shell casings were collected from the scene but BCI forensic experts determined four came from one weapon and eight came from another.
TESTIMONY
Earlier in the trial, defense attorney Lavelle questioned both key witnesses -- the teen victim and Breosha Moses, 25, of Youngstown, who was a friend of Bethel -- if Bethel had a gun, and both denied he had one.
According to the women's testimony, Turner had been talking with Bethel and the teen girl outside the defendant's parked Chevrolet along Cleveland Street when the shooting started.
Earlier, representatives with the coroner's office said Bethel was shot twice in the back.
After the shooting, police officers had to maneuver through a large crowd numbering up to 100 people who had gathered around the victim. Many of the police officers who testified Tuesday said they encountered a chaotic scene outside the bar shortly after 8:30 p.m.