David Sweeney, left, was in the gallery during a hearing Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the aggravated murder case of Kimonie Bryant, who is accused of killing Sweeney’s son, Rowan, 4, in September 2020. To Sweeney’s right is his fiancee, Bailey Williamson. In the row behind them is Alexis Schneider, Rowan’s mother. Staff photo / Ed Runyan

YOUNGSTOWN — A Struthers police officer testified Monday during a hearing in the Rowan Sweeney murder case that Kimonie Bryant, 25, told another man he was in a car outside of the home in Struthers when Rowan, 4, was killed — and that Brandon Crump Jr. was the shooter.

The man Bryant is alleged to have spoken to told Struthers police that “Brandon Crump came back to the car with money” after the shootings, said Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin.

Capt. Matt Haas of the Struthers Police Department agreed with that statement; he is one of two Struthers detectives working on the case.

Haas also agreed with the man’s alleged statement to police that Bryant drove Crump from the scene after the homicide.

The hearing was in the Bryant aggravated murder case. Bryant and two other men are charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 21, 2020, shooting death of Rowan in a home in Perry Street where he was staying with his mother, Alexis Schneider and her boyfriend, Yarnell Green. Schneider, Green and two other people also were shot at the same time as Rowan but survived.

Schneider was in the gallery of the courtroom for the hearing, sitting in the row behind Rowan’s father, David Sweeney and David Sweeney’s fiancee, Bailey Williamson.

DISMISSAL?

The hearing was the second of two days of testimony to provide evidence needed for Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to decide whether one of the counts, a conspiracy charge, in Bryant’s indictment should be dismissed. Defense attorneys have argued that the charge should be dismissed because prosecutors did not indict him on it Oct. 1, 2020, even though they had evidence regarding the charge by Oct. 1 and chose not to go forward with it.

Grand jurors indicted Bryant on that conspiracy charge in March 2021 when two other men — Crump Jr. and Andre McCoy — were indicted in the case.

The additional charge added to Bryant is one accusing him of conspiring with co-defendants Crump and Andrew McCoy to commit an aggravated burglary or aggravated robbery at the Perry Street home.

McLaughlin asked Haas whether investigators knew what role Crump played in the crimes on Oct. 1, 2020, the day prosecutors presented evidence to a county grand jury that later led to Bryant’s first indictment.

“No, we had information with conflicting names such as whether it was Brandon McDowell or not,” Haas replied. He agreed with McLaughlin that investigators had not finished investigating the role “Brandon McDowell / Brandon Crump” played in the case.

GRAND JURY

Haas also agreed that on Oct. 1, hours before the case against Bryant was presented to a grand jury, Green told police he no longer thought Bryant was the shooter. It was the first time any of the witnesses said that, Haas testified.

After the indictments, Haas spoke with a woman close to Bryant, who said Bryant “picked up Brandon Crump the night of the shooting,” Haas agreed. She also told police after the initial indictment that Bryant “dropped Brandon Crump off after the shooting,” Haas said.

Haas also spoke Oct. 7, 2020, to a man who was close to Bryant, Haas agreed. The man told police things Bryant told him “concerning the homicide, the planning, as well as what took place the following morning,” Haas said.

B-Thump was Crump’s nickname, McLaughlin said. The name B-Thump had come up in the investigation, but investigators did not know who that was yet at the time information was presented to the grand jury about Bryant, Haas testified.

During questioning by Lynn Maro, an attorney for Bryant, Haas agreed that he received a police report on a person known as “Brandon McDowell” Sept. 28, 2020, before the grand jury heard testimony that led to Bryant being indicted.

“So you had that information on Brandon Crump prior to the case being presented to the grand jury?” she asked.

“Correct,” Haas said.

Struthers police also received information two days after the shooting from an anonymous person that Crump was involved in the killings, Haas agreed.

Haas was the only witness Monday. Capt. Dan Mamula, the other Struthers detective working on the case, testified on the first day of testimony Feb. 16. D’Apolito asked the attorneys to file legal briefs on the issue and he will rule on the matter in a couple of months.