YOUNGSTOWN — A murder case that featured some unusual twists and turns involving two defendants — convicted of two Youngstown murders in June and November of 2018 — produced an appeals court ruling upholding the conviction and sentence of Stephon Hopkins.

The 7th District Court of Appeals in Youngstown determined that the identification of Hopkins and co-defendant Brian Donlow Jr. as the murderers, based on surveillance video from the Plaza View apartment complex on the East Side, by a Youngstown police detective did not violate Hopkins’ rights.

Hopkins, now 25, and Donlow, now 27, were both sentenced in April 2020 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to 21 years to life in prison in the June 2018 shooting death of Brandon Wylie, 30. Both were convicted of murder and of being felons in possession of firearms at the same trial.

It was the same case in which former Youngstown detective Doug Bobovnyik testified at an evidence-suppression hearing that he showed a photo lineup of four men — whose names were Brian Donlow or something similar — to a witness to have her determine whether the Brian Donlow Jr., a suspect in the case, was the same one she knew to be at the Plaza View apartments just before the killing.

Bobovnyik testified that the witness said she knew the defendant from the East Side, but he was not the only Brian Donlow she knew.

“There were four Brian Donlows or variations of the name,” Bobvnyik said. “To the best of my recollection, they were all half brothers.”

In addition to the defendant, there was a Brian Donlow III, Brian Trevon Fredrick Donlow and Byron Brian Bryson Donlow, Bobovnyik said.

The witness identified Brian Donlow Jr. as the man who was at the apartment complex.

KEY ASPECT

A key aspect of the trial was testimony from detective Michael Lambert of the Youngstown Police Department identifying Hopkins and Donlow as the two individuals seen in surveillance video.

One video clip shows Hopkins and Donlow walking with Wiley through the apartment complex, and another clip shows Hopkins shooting in the direction of where Wiley’s body was later found, and Donlow then coming closer to the location of the victim, then jogging away as he and the shooter fled.

It’s the same video that shows the shooter showing a casual attitude as he fired his gun — a behavior Judge Anthony D’Apolito later called “cold, calculated and heartless” and compared it to: “I’ll throw away this wrapper of gum, and I will shoot you at the same time.”

Hopkins’ appeal argued that it was improper for D’Apolito to allow Lambert to testify that he could identify Hopkins from the video. Lambert said he could do so because of Lambert’s previous dealings with Hopkins and Donlow in his job as a detective investigating criminal cases in Youngstown.

Lambert testified that he previously spoke with and watched Hopkins and Donlow and answered “yes” when asked if he was “familiar with the way these men carry themselves, the way they walk, things of that nature,” the ruling states.

As the video was played for the jury, Lambert identified Hopkins as the person shooting and recognized him from his hair style, the way he walked and the clothing he was wearing. Hopkins’ shorts had a logo on them matching shorts Hopkins wore in a photo on Hopkins’ Facebook page, Lambert testified.

There were two other men outside of the apartment buildings that night identified as Lorice Moore and Chasmar Ford, who Lambert said he also knew from previous investigations, but Lambert testified he was sure they were not the men he identified as Hopkins and Donlow because their body types were different.

Moore is lean, muscular and older, while Ford is darker, shorter and stockier than the other three males and had a lot of facial hair and sideburns at the time, he testified, according to the ruling.

“We concluded it was not unreasonable to find the detective’s identification was rationally based on the perception of the witness and helpful to a clear understanding of the witness’s testimony or the determination of a fact,” the ruling stated.

Although the defense called the surveillance video “blurry,” the appeals court noted that some of it showing the person identified as Hopkins was “fairly clear.”

DISAGREEMENT

The ruling stated that the appeals court did not agree with Hopkins’ contention that he was denied his right to a fair trial by Bobovnyik’s testimony regarding tips Bobovnyik received in an anonymous voicemail identifying Hopkins and Donlow as suspects in the murder.

During the trial, Bobovnyik testified to using tips he received to ask a witness who was at the apartment complex whether Hopkins was one of the men at a gathering just before the killing, the ruling states. Bobovnyik used the tips to print out a photo of Hopkins that he showed to one of the people at the gathering to “confirm that this was the Stephon Hopkins she was with at the the gathering the night of the shooting,” the ruling states.

One witness identified Donlow and Hopkins as being part of a gathering of people a short time before the shooting, and another witness identified Hopkins as being among the people at the gathering, the ruling states.

“A video shows two of the males leaving the gathering and walk up to the victim as he arrived,” the ruling continues.

“Text messages to Moore indicated the victim’s arrival was expected but delayed,” the ruling states.

The appeals court earlier upheld Donlow’s conviction in the case.

Hopkins and Moore, now 26, were also sentenced last month in the Nov. 18, 2018, killing of Christopher Jackson Jr. in a car on the East Side.

Hopkins was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison, and Moore got 32 years to life. They were both convicted at the same November trial, also before Judge D’Apolito.

Donlow was convicted at a separate trial in April in the Jackson killing and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Donlow represented himself in that trial.

erunyan@vindy.com