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YOUNGSTOWN -- Anthony D. Johnson, 37, who was arrested Thursday by Youngstown police and charged with a 2019 "cold case" murder, pleaded not guilty Tuesday during his arraignment in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to aggravated murder and other charges.
Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Paris asked Judge Maureen Sweeney to set no bond for Johnson "given the nature of this offense being an aggravated murder." Attorney Mark Lavelle, who represented Johnson at the hearing, said Johnson was not going to ask for a bond to be set, and the judge agreed.
Johnson remained in the county jail Tuesday.
Johnson was secretly indicted Thursday on a charge of aggravated murder with a 5-year drive-by specification and gun specification, murder with those same specifications, having weapons while not allowed, improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and obstructing official business.
Johnson was one of three people arraigned on murder charges Tuesday. The others were Nicholas Cunningham and Shanay T. Jacobs.
Johnson is accused of killing Reshaud Biggs Sr., 33, of Boardman on July 14, 2019. Biggs was found at 3:10 a.m. in a car parked in the 300 block of East Lucius Avenue on the South Side, according to Vindicator archives. He was breathing when paramedics arrived.
Then-Youngstown Police Chief Robin Lees said someone in another car fired at Biggs' vehicle, which was parked in front of a home. Biggs was the only person in the car.
Lt. Brian Welsh of the police department said in 2019 officers received a 911 call from someone in the area, and that is when they found the car and Biggs.
On July 10, 2019, Biggs was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a fourth-degree felony and fifth-degree felony charge of trafficking in cocaine.
Johnson was sentenced to five years in prison in July 2021 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in a 2017 robbery and a 2018 robbery. Johnson was the driver of the car in both robberies committed by another man, according to Vindicator files.
JACOBS
Jacobs, 32, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in the Oct. 15 vehicular death of her ex-boyfriend Nathanial Watson, 30, on South Schenley Avenue on the West Side.
Jacobs was indicted Dec. 7 on charges of murder, felonious assault, aggravated vehicular assault and domestic violence. Her bond is $750,000, and she remained in the county jail Tuesday.
Watson was found underneath a car in the front yard of a home on South Schenley at 5:08 a.m. The vehicle was near the sidewalk, and Jacobs was nearby.
A Youngstown police detective testified during a preliminary hearing in Youngstown Municipal Court that Jacobs admitted to police that she "ran him over on the sidewalk."
Detective Jerry Fulmer testified that when he interviewed Jacobs at the scene, she said that after Watson left her sister's home, he walked along the sidewalk on Schenley and she drove a car.
"Initially she said he jumped in front of the car," Fulmer testified. "But then after speaking with her further, she ... did admit that she ran him over on the sidewalk."
Fulmer said another reason Jacobs was charged with murder was that during the investigation, detectives also acquired a surveillance video from another South Schenley home that appears to capture Jacobs walking from where Watson was killed back toward Jacobs' sister's house.
But it also showed the headlights from a car about the time of the incident. Fulmer said Jacobs was driving the vehicle. The headlights illuminated homes on the other side of the street from the camera. The movement of the headlights indicated that Jacobs veered off the road to hit Watson, Fulmer said.
erunyan@vindy.com