Youngstown attempted murder trial may feature victim as witness
Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- A woman who was shot in the head while outside her home on South Truesdale Avenue on the East Side late March 21, 2022, is expected to testify today in the trial of Davelle L. Heath, 27, of Louisville, Kentucky, on a charge of attempted murder.
Steve Maszczak, county assistant prosecutor, told jurors in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that Heath approached the woman outside her house and called her by a previous name. "Katrina immediately recognizes this individual as the defendant, Davelle Heath," Maszczak said. They spoke a little more after that.
"They shake hands. As Katrina leans over to get into her car -- Bam! There is a single gunshot that hits Katrina right over the left portion of her head over her ear."
Maszczak said the force caused severe damage to her skull, causing her to fall to the ground. Heath walked over and looked at her, then left, Maszczak said.
"Miraculously, the bullet did not kill Katrina but rather caused what can best be described as very deep graze," he said. "That injury would hospitalize her ... require her to have surgery. In addition to that, she has some hearing loss and some other disabilities," he said.
Her two housemates heard the gunshots, heard Katrina calling for help and called 911 while Katrina pulled herself up onto the front porch while bleeding profusely.
Katrina repeatedly told her housemates the name of the person who shot her, but the housemate on the phone with 911 relayed the name as Lavelle, Maszczak said.
When a Youngstown police officer arrived and tried to get the name of the suspect from Katrina, her injury prevented her from speaking clearly, so she motioned to give her something to write on.
On a small envelope, she wrote the name Davelle Heath, Maszczak said.
"Not only does Katrina write down the shooter's name, but she also writes down the address and phone number of the defendant's grandmother in hopes of providing some additional link to the defendant," Maszczak said.
At the hospital, Katrina again wrote the name Davelle Heath on a piece of paper, Maszczak said.
Police would later learn that Katrina had been in a long-term relationship with Heath's grandmother "and knew the defendant from the day he was born in 1995 until he moved away" when he was a teenager, Maszczak said.
Maszczak said Heath was a student in England at the time of the shooting, but was in Youngstown the evening Katrina was shot. A warrant was issued for Heath's arrest, and he was taken into custody by U.S. Customs agents at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where he was trying to board a plane to London, Maszczak said.
Patrick Moro, Heath's attorney, told jurors the case will be about timelines, alibis "and most of all credibility." He said the prosecution evidence is circumstantial.
He asked the jurors to think about three words as they hear the evidence: "credibility, reliability and believability."
Youngstown Police patrolman Robert DiMaiolo was the first witness. He described seeing Katrina inside her home with a gunshot wound to the head.
"She informed me of who the shooter was," he said. He said he had no trouble understanding her words. She did ask for paper to write on, he said. He gave her one of the evidence envelopes he carries in his pocket.
He watched her write "Mr. Heath's name" on it, DiMaiolo said.
Katherine Jones, assistant prosecutor, handed DiMaiolo an evidence envelope used by crime scene investigators. In it was the smaller envelope DiMaiolo gave to Katrina to write on the night she was shot.
She wrote "Davelle Heath" and a phone number on one side. "And on the other side was his grandmother's address," DiMaiolo said.
Tyler Blake testified that he and his girlfriend, Robyn Gore, were in the home on South Truesdale where they lived with Katrina the night of the shooting. He was playing a video game in the living room, and Gore was upstairs when Katrina walked out of the house.
Under cross examination by Moro, Blake said he thinks Katrina had walked outside of the house about 30 seconds before he heard the gunshot.
The trial resumes this morning in the courtroom of Judge Anthony D'Apolito.
erunyan@vindy.com