×

Suspect’s competency questioned in murder case

WARREN — An attorney for the Youngstown man accused of shooting a woman to death Dec. 16, 2021, in a vehicle off a Hubbard Township road has filed motions with Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, questioning his competency and submitting a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Devonte Douglas, 25, 1471 Dogwood Lane, appeared in court Wednesday with public defender Carlo Ciccone, who told Judge W. Wyatt McKay he filed papers Monday seeking psychiatric evaluations for his client.

Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker said the evaluation would take at least 60 days for a report to be generated by a psychologist to see if Douglas would be fit for trial. No trial date has been set.

McKay granted the assistant prosecutor’s motion that speedy trial time be suspended until the reports are completed. Defendants in Ohio must be tried within 90 days of arrest. Douglas was arrested on Dec. 16 and was indicted in a special report of a Trumbull County grand jury charging him with aggravated murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence in the death of Adreionna Faith Hasley-Crockett, 22, 1324 Dogwood Lane, Youngstown.

If found guilty, Douglas could face a life sentence with chances at parole after either 20, 25 or 30 years. Becker said an option for a maximum sentence of life without parole is possible.

Hasley-Crockett’s body earlier that December day was found in a vehicle parked in a pull-off near Seifert Lewis Road in Hubbard Township.

A terrified woman told Trumbull County 911 dispatchers that her ex-boyfriend held a gun to her head and forced her into the trunk of a vehicle before killing the woman’s girlfriend, according to 911 recordings.

Judith Britton of Dogwood Lane, Youngstown, called 911 around 10 a.m. Dec. 16 from the Hubbard Township location to report her ex shot Hasley-Crockett.

“Can you locate my call? Because I don’t know where I am, but my ex just killed my girlfriend … he killed her; he killed her. I was in the back. He drove my car. I was in the trunk. He killed her. Please …” Britton said. “I’m so scared he’s going to find me. … I’m just so scared he’s going to come back for me.

“He kidnapped me, put me in the trunk, came here (and) killed her.”

From the trunk, Britton said she heard “so many shots, so many of them.” She said the man shot Hasley-Crockett through the driver’s side window.

Reports state the man took Britton from the scene and left her with her car. Britton said she drove back to the shooting scene to see if Hasley-Crockett was alive, and called 911.

Halsey-Crockett’s Chevrolet Impala and Britton’s Chevrolet Malibu were at the scene of the killing, reports said.

Hasley-Crockett died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to a coroner’s report.

Douglas showed up at the Youngstown Police Department shortly after the shooting in an attempt to get a car out of impound. Douglas was detained for questioning, according to a report.

The case was investigated by Hubbard Township police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Starting at $3.85/week.

Subscribe Today