Brandon Crump Jr. listens to testimony in his aggravated murder trial Wednesday.

YOUNGSTOWN — The same tension that a Struthers police captain talked about during testimony Tuesday in Brandon Crump Jr.’s aggravated murder trial was evident Wednesday when the prosecution and defense squared off in closing arguments.

Crump, 21, is charged in connection to the Sept. 21, 2020, shooting death of Rowan Sweeney, 4, and attempted murder in the shootings of four adults in a home in Struthers. Crump also is accused of committing a burglary involving cash taken from the home.

Jurors deliberated about 30 minutes late Wednesday after hearing closing arguments. They went home to resume deliberations this morning. No new witnesses testified Wednesday, including Crump or Kimonie Bryant, who took a plea agreement in the case and agreed to a prison sentence of 20 years to life.

Struthers police Capt. Matt Haus testified Tuesday the public was watching every detail as he and other investigators tried to solve the case, which involved the death of an innocent boy.

That tension also was there as Mike Yacovone, assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, and Lou DeFabio, Crump’s attorney, addressed the jury to make sense out of the huge amount of information, much of it scientific, that jurors heard over four days.

Yacovone said he could spend days reviewing details of the case, but one issue stands above the others, “the identity element.”

“That’s what we’re here to figure out. So how do we know it’s Brandon Crump?,” Yacovone said.

Two of the adults who were shot testified the shooter was Crump. Yacovone said Alexis Scheider, Rowan’s mother, “admittedly has been back and forth” as to whether the shooter was Crump or co-defendant Bryant, he said.

Another adult who was in the home, Andre McCoy Jr., another Crump co-defendant, testified, but he was on the run for more than two years before he was arrested and has a history as a law breaker, according to testimony.

“Are we hanging our hat on those two alone? No. But I would submit to you that Andre McCoy has no reason to lie. He has no reason to fabricate about who shot. He’s cooperating against Kimonie Bryant as well.”

Yacovone said other evidence came from the firearms, bullets and bullet shell casings. He said an employee of a private laboratory in Virginia testified DNA on the 12 bullet shell casings found in the home came from Crump.

And he said there was cellphone location data showing the cellphones of Crump and Bryant traveled to the home on Perry Street in Struthers at the time of the homicide. Data indicated the phones of Crump and Bryant were together at or near Cassius Street in Youngstown, where Bryant lived. Then the phones moved to Perry Street and were there at 1:43 a.m., 1:46 a.m., 1:48 a.m., and 1:51 a.m. Sept. 21, 2020.

The shootings were reported in a 911 call at 1:52 a.m. After that, the phones are seen moving back to Cassius, Yacovone said. A little while later, Crump’s phone is seen moving to the area of Dewey Avenue, where Crump lives.

About 40 minutes later, a video was filmed on Crump’s phone showing cash, “proud of his work, proud of what he did, at the cost of a little boy’s life,” Yacovone said. Yacovone said the denominations of the cash being shown “match up with the money that was taken from Yarnell Green,” another man in the home at the time of the shootings.

DEFENSE CLOSES

When Crump’s attorney, Lou DeFabio, got his turn, he spoke for an hour, giving a blow-by-blow of various phone calls, text messages and other details, emphasizing the first time McCoy texted his girlfriend, Cassandra Marsicola, who were in the Perry Street home together, that McCoy was planning to rob Green was 12:59 a.m. But Crump and Bryant spoke in a call two times 20 minutes earlier.

DeFabio contended since McCoy had not “hatched” his plan to rob Green until 12:59 a.m., why were Crump and Bryant communicating with each other about the robbery 20 minutes earlier — at about 12:30 and 12:40 a.m.

“There were two audio calls 20 minutes before anything starts. The plan wasn’t hatched until Andre sees the money,” DeFabio said.

DeFabio then recited details he noticed in the testimony of Alexis Schneider identifying Bryant as the shooter and saying she did so because she had been exposed to information about Bryant being arrested. DeFabio suggested that it differed from what Struthers Police detective notes said.

Yacovone then challenged many of the things DeFabio said, saying he would not rely on things Schneider, McCoy or Marsicola have said “for the most important of my affairs,” adding, “Sorry, it’s not going to happen.”

Then Yacovone addressed DeFabio’s 12:59 a.m. assertions, referencing the text message at that time by McCoy telling Marsicola that McCoy was going to rob Green.

“That doesn’t tell us when (McCoy) formulated the plan. All that does is tell is that’s when (McCoy) decided to text (Marsicola),” DeFabio said.

He said DeFabio questioned why there are no communications between McCoy and Crump, but there was no reason for any such communication. McCoy was communicating with Bryant about the robbery. McCoy “had no idea” Crump was going to be coming to Perry Street,” Yacovone said.

“He wasn’t invited to the party,” Yacovone said.

erunyan@vindy.com