YOUNGSTOWN — Jabrae L. Perry, 45, charged in the Aug. 24, 2021, murders of Ayanna Mills, 49, and her son, Brandon Bell, 28, at a home on Salt Springs Road on the West Side, will be evaluated to determine whether he no longer should be eligible for the death penalty.

Perry is charged with aggravated murder and murder with a specification, accusing him of killing Bell to escape detection for killing Mills, who was his girlfriend.

Judge John Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ordered the evaluation Tuesday during a hearing. The evaluation is being done under a provision of Ohio law that went into effect in April 2021 that eliminates the death penalty for someone deemed to have serious mental illness at the time of their alleged offenses.

Perry was evaluated earlier and found to be competent to stand trial, meaning he is capable of understanding the nature and objective of the proceedings against him and assisting in his defense.

Under the provision, if a person has been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, including bipolar disorder, the person would be ineligible for the death penalty, according to a filing by Perry’s attorneys.

The person must prove that the illness “significantly impaired the person’s capacity to exercise rational judgment” regarding “conformity to the law or appreciating the nature, consequences, or wrongfulness of the person’s conduct,” according to the filing.

The judge appointed Dr. Robert Stinson to evaluate Perry, who was in the courtroom for the hearing with his attorneys, Lou DeFabio and J.P. Laczko.

The judge and Perry’s lawyers discussed the fact that Perry was evaluated three times regarding his competency to stand trial, so efforts will be made to secure those records and forward them to Stinson.

The judge also approved funds for the defense to hire an expert witness for Perry, but the judge asked the defense to avoid having the expert “get into the weeds” of mitigation in the case in the event that Perry becomes no longer eligible for the death penalty.

Mitigation is a second phase of an aggravated murder case with the possibility of the death penalty. The mitigation phase determines whether the mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating circumstances in a homicide.

A person no longer eligible for the death penalty under the serious mental illness statute still is eligible to be tried and sentenced for an aggravated murder, which is punishable by one of several types of life prison sentences.

Both victims suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. The shootings may have happened as much as 12 hours apart, prosecutors said. Bell was checking on his mother because she had not shown up for work that day, said Mike Yacovone, county assistant prosecutor.

The victims were found shot in a home in the 1200 block of Salt Springs Road. Mills was dead at the scene. Bell was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he later died.

In addition to the two murder charges, Perry was indicted on being a felon in possession of a firearm, tampering with evidence and grand theft of a motor vehicle.