YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County prosecutors are moving forward with prosecuting three men indicted in the Sept. 21, 2020, slaying of Rowan Sweeney, 4, despite the death last Sunday of a key witness in the case, Yarnell Green, 32.

The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office said it cannot comment on evidence in the case outside of court, in part because of a “gag” order Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed Feb. 11, 2021. But Green’s death is not stopping prosecution of the case.

“The state will move forward with prosecuting these cases,” Jennifer McLaughlin, chief of the criminal division the county prosecutor’s office, said last week.

Green was shot to death early Sept. 18 outside of a downtown tavern, and Johnny Serrano, 23, of Campbell, is in the Mahoning County jail, charged with murder in the case. Serrano’s lawyer, James Gentile, told a visiting judge during Serrano’s arraignment in Youngstown Municipal Court on Wednesday this may be a self-defense case.

Green was a central figure in Rowan’s case. Green allegedly was the target of one or more men seeking to steal cash Green had in the home on Perry Street in Struthers where the boy was killed. Green initially identified defendant Kimonie Bryant, 26, of Struthers, as the man who burst into the home and shot all five people inside, killing Rowan and injuring Green; Rowan’s mother, Alexis Schneider, who was Green’s girlfriend; Cassandra Marsicola; and Andre McCoy Jr., 22, of Youngstown.

Green later changed his testimony and told Struthers police that Brandon Crump Jr., then 17, was the male wearing a hooded sweatshirt pulled up around his face who entered the home and committed the shootings.

Police said early on that day, McCoy may have been part of the robbery plan because of text messaging they found between McCoy and Bryant’s phones just before the shootings. McCoy; Bryant, 26; and Crump, now 19, ultimately were indicted on aggravated murder and many other charges in the case, including specifications that could lead to the death penalty if convicted.

AVAILABLE TO TESTIFY

Though McCoy left the hospital after being treated for his injuries and has not been located and Green has been killed, two witnesses are available to testify. Police have said Green, Schneider and Marsicola gave statements to police about what happened. And prosecutors are hoping DNA results expected to be available Nov. 7 from a private laboratory will make it clear whether Bryant or Crump was the triggerman.

Capt. Matt Haus of the Struthers Police Department testified at a hearing in February 2021 that Marsicola told police the man who entered the home demanded that McCoy give him McCoy’s valuables and then fired two shots into McCoy, who was sitting on a couch. He then shot Green, who was on another couch, then shot Marsicola, who was on a wooden chair.

Schneider told police that before she was shot, she tried to lie on top of Rowan, who was sleeping. “She pleaded with the suspect not to shoot her son. She advised that’s when he shot her son,” Haus testified.

Haus also testified to cellphone records showing the locations of phones associated with Bryant and Crump at various times before and after the shootings, which were reported to police at 1:52 a.m.

TEXT MESSAGES

The records show that at 1:14 a.m., the phones of Bryant and Crump were close to each other. At 1:32 a.m., the phones were near each other east of Cassius Avenue on Youngstown’s East Side. They also were close together at 1:36 a.m. and at 1:44 a.m. were on Perry Street in Struthers.

At 1:55 a.m., both phones were close together leaving the Perry Street area, Haus testified. At 2:01 a.m., the phones were on Cassius Avenue, Haus testified.

Last week, defense attorneys for Bryant filed a motion that seeks to prevent prosecutors from presenting evidence regarding an identification Schneider made of Bryant being the shooter.

The filing states that Haus and Struthers Capt. Dan Mamula interviewed Scheider in the emergency room at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital later the day of the shootings. She was “heavily medicated to the point where officers noted her sedated state before commencing the interview,” the filing states.

She described the shooter’s height, weight and race and described his clothing. Then she was shown a single photo of Bryant, but she was unable to say whether Bryant was the shooter, the filing states.

The next day, officers returned to speak to Schneider again, with Mamula stating Bryant’s name and asking “whether she was aware that an arrest was made.” Bryant had turned himself in to police 18 hours after the shootings, after police issued an arrest warrant for Bryant, according to police and court documents.

Mamula handed Schneider the same photo as the day before. The filing does not say specifically what Scheider told detectives when she looked at the photo again that day, but Haus testified in February 2021 that Schneider told detectives at some unspecified time that that Bryant was the man “in her home” at the time of the shootings.

Haus also testified in February 2021 that Green told Haus in the days following the shootings that Bryant had shot Green.

WHAT GREEN SAID

But Mamula testified at a Feb. 16, 2022, hearing that on Oct. 1, 2020, Green told Mamula that he no longer thought Bryant was the shooter. Haus testified in February 2021 that Green told Haus that Green and Bryant are cousins.

The defense filing states: “Psychological research has demonstrated the inherent unreliability of witness identification, even in the fairest of circumstances — such as a fairly constructed photo lineup, administered by a blind administrator and without any outside influences or suggestions.”

The courts have “recognized the inherent unreliability of eyewitness identification” and also recognized “that a ‘one man lineup’ or a ‘one man show up’ except in the most dire circumstances … are themselves inherently unreliable,” the filing states.

Not only did the police conduct this type of one-man identification in this case, but they also “offered a name to go with a face,” the filing states. “The identification under these circumstances is unreliable and must be suppressed” from the case, it states.

A “blind administrator” is a person who shows a witness photos who does not know the identify of the suspect, the filing explains.

Gina DeGenova, chief assistant prosector for the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, said assistant prosecutors will file a written response to the new motion with D’Apolito, as it routinely does, but the prosecutor’s office is “not permitted to comment on this case in any fashion due to a gag order imposed by the court.”

TIED TO ROWAN CASE?

As for whether the killing of Green could have been related to the 2020 shootings, Struthers police Chief Tim Roddy said Struthers investigators have discussed that with the Youngstown Police Department, but he is not aware of any connection “on the surface.”

Roddy said Youngstown police are taking the Rowan case “into account with how they are proceeding with this.” He added, “Because it’s their investigation, we are here to assist them, but we are not going to jump in and try to do anything.”

When Capt. Jason Simon of the Youngstown Police detective division was asked if he thought Green’s death was connected to Rowan’s killing, Simon said he’s not aware of any connection between the two. “But we have no way of saying for sure.”

Roddy said that, through Roddy’s affiliation with local sports, he is aware that Serrano attended Struthers City Schools.

“I don’t think we had any major issues with him,” Roddy said of Serrano and the police department.

Court records indicate Serrano had a misdemeanor theft conviction out of Boardman in 2018 and a misdemeanor failure to comply with the orders of a police officer conviction out of Youngstown in November 2020.

Serrano had a Struthers address at the time of the Boardman conviction. He had a different Struthers address in August 2020 when he was cited for speeding in Austintown, according to court records.

erunyan@vindy.com