YOUNGSTOWN — A jury deliberated about two hours Thursday before it found Stevie A. Ballard, 23, of Campbell not guilty on all counts in the South Side shooting death of Darrell N. Jackson, 20.

A jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court found Ballard not guilty of aggravated murder and murder and two gun specifications associated with each charge. The final prosecution witness was Wednesday afternoon, and the defense did not call any witnesses.

When Judge Anthony Donofrio read the two not guilty verdicts, Ballard sobbed and seemed to be reaching out to his attorney, Mark Lavelle, to help him with his emotions. At the prosecution table, longtime assistant county Prosecutor Rob Andrews covered his face.

Lavelle said later Ballard had wanted to go home after hearing the not guilty verdicts, but he knew that he could not because he still has another pending criminal case.

A hearing will be scheduled for Donofrio to consider setting a new bond for Ballard now that he has been acquitted of aggravated murder. Deputies took Ballard from the courtroom after the verdicts to return to the county jail.

One juror later told The Vindicator that there were “holes” in the prosecution’s case, and another juror said there “wasn’t enough evidence to find (Ballard) guilty.”

Andrews and Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova both said later they respect the jury’s verdict, with Andrews adding: “That’s their verdict. I don’t agree.”

During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence suggesting that Ballard was in a gold Honda from which the bullets were fired that killed Jackson. They said the Honda drove alongside of a car driven by Jackson at about 1:20 p.m. Jan. 22, 2022, on Market Street near Hylda Avenue. Shots were fired from the rear passenger window of the Honda into Jackson’s car, killing him.

They bolstered their argument with accounts of Ballard threatening to kill Jackson a couple of months earlier and evidence showing that Ballard had been driving that same gold Honda earlier that day.

But during the cross examination of lead Youngstown police investigator Jerry Fullmer, it became more obvious that the case was built on what is called circumstantial evidence — damaging evidence that sometimes suggests that a person committed a crime more than proves it.

Fullmer admitted that he did not know where in the car Ballard was seated, did not know who was driving the car, or who was shooting. He could not even say for sure that Ballard was in the car.

In closing arguments Thursday, Martin Hume county assistant prosecutor, recounted the circumstantial evidence presented during the trial — the Honda, Ballard using Facebook on the day of the killing but not during the killing or during a 10:30 trip to a Family Dollar store that day that was captured on video.

Hume also recounted the testimony of Jackson’s mother and father when they said Ballard had threatened to kill Jackson about 2 1/2 months before the killing. Jackson was killed about 1:20 p.m. Jan. 22, 2022, as the gold Honda pulled up beside Jackson’s car as it traveled down market Street near Hylda Avenue on the South Side. The shooting is captured on store surveillance video from a store.

In the closing argument of Lavelle, jurors heard a philosophical discussion on violence before he recounted the testimony. Lavelle suggested to the jurors that the prosecution tried to enlist the jurors to help quiet the violence in the city by convicting Ballard.

“I don’t think we want to believe we live in a society with the chaos that goes on, that we can live in a society … as violent, and you’ve come face to face with that in the last three or four days,” Lavelle said.

“Like it or not, folks, we do live in times of uncertainty and danger and violence. And I think that as a result of that uncertainty, a situation such as this has come to you to. I guess the prosecutor is asking you to do your part. Your part is not to do the investigation in this case. Your part is not to put the puzzle pieces together, as Mr. (Rob) Andrews indicated. They are supposed to do the for you.

“You are not the investigator. You are to judge the investigation. You are to make a determination, and it is patently unfair for them to shift that burden to you because we have chaos in our society.”