YOUNGSTOWN — Judge John Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has ruled against a request by Ohio inmate Columbus Jones, 35, for DNA testing on bullet cartridges collected during an investigation of the Feb. 6, 2011, killing of Jamail E. Johnson at a party on Indiana Avenue on the North Side.

Jones, who is serving a 90-years-to life-sentence, was convicted of murder, 10 counts of felonious assault and one count of discharging a firearm at or into a habitation, plus gun specifications.

Jones, who is housed in the Lebanon Correctional Institution, will be eligible for parole for the first time in December 2100, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction website.

In addition to Jamail E. Johnson, 25, being killed as he tried to diffuse the fight, 10 other people suffered gunshot wounds but survived the 3:30 a.m. shootings. It was estimated 80 to 90 people were in the home.

Hours earlier, much of the crowd had attended a party at the MetroPlex hotel in Liberty hosted by the Kappa fraternity. During the party, the DJ announced there would be an after-party at a home on Indiana Avenue.

Specifically, Jones asked that 10 .40-caliber cartridges that were admitted as evidence in his trial be tested for DNA and the results uploaded to a law enforcement database to potentially “provide additional proof of Mr. Jones’ innocence while simultaneously identifying the true perpetrator.”

The ruling recited a long summary of the fight and shootings, as well as the testimony at Jones’ trial, and then ruled that the request did not meet a requirement for Jones to approve such testing — that the type of testing the defendant sought “was generally not accepted, not yet available or the results were generally not admissible” at the time of the defendant’s trial.

The court “found numerous cases that have been reported out of various states and jurisdictions that have addressed expert testimony on DNA transfer evidence and whether that evidence would have affected the outcome of the trial,” the ruling states.

“These cases were decided prior to the trial in his case,” the judge stated. “Thus, the defendant was unable to satisfy all of the requirements under (Ohio law) since DNA testing was generally accepted, was available and the results were generally admissible at the time of trial.”

He wrote that “Even assuming that DNA testing was not generally accepted, was not available and the results were not generally admissible at trial, the defendant cannot satisfy the requirement that the DNA testing would have been outcome determinative,” Durkin added.

“Outcome determinative means that such testing would show a strong probability that no reasonable fact-finders would have found the offender guilty of that offense,” the ruling continued.

“Based on a review of all available admissible evidence related to the defendant’s case, the defendant cannot show a strong probability that no reasonable fact-finder would have found him guilty if the DNA evidence was admitted during the trial,” Judge Durkin ruled.

The ruling cited some of the testimony at Jones’ trial, including the testimony of witness Braylon Rogers, who testified that he “saw the defendant shoot multiple times into the back of the house. He also said that the defendant had a .40 caliber handgun, and many .40-caliber cartridges were found at the scene.”

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