YOUNGSTOWN — Danyo Sellers has asked Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to reduce his bond because the “state’s chief witness against (Sellers) has recanted.”

Sellers, 17, was charged with the April 15, 2023, shooting death of 15-year-old Amya Monserrat outside of a Southern Boulevard tavern. He turns 18 in November.

The filing asks the judge to set Sellers’ bond at $100,000 and asks that he be allowed to post 10% and thereby get the cost of the bond refunded at the end of the case.

Sellers was 16 at the time that he is accused of shooting the girl to death and wounding three other people.

Judge Theresa Dellick of Mahoning County Juvenile Court found probable cause in December 2023 that Sellers committed the crimes and bound his case over to a Mahoning County grand jury, which later indicted him on charges of murder, felonious assault and involuntary manslaughter, each with three gun specifications.

Amya and others were outside of the tavern for a birthday party for a 16-year-old, police said.

Sellers’ co-defendant, Saun Peterson, now 22, and Youngstown Police detective Michael Cox testified at the probable cause hearing. Peterson said he was the driver of the dark blue Mercedes Benz that drove around the tavern several times that night and that Sellers was in the front passenger seat.

Peterson said he saw people in the crowd outside of the tavern with guns when he drove past, and that Sellers fired a gun over the top of the Mercedes toward the crowd, which was on the driver’s side of the car.

Peterson later pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to involuntary manslaughter and other charges in the episode. Prosecutors are recommending that Peterson get 10 to 12.5 years in prison when he is sentenced later.

Police have said the incident involved two groups of people shooting at each other over a conflict and that Amya was hit by a “stray bullet.”

After Sellers was indicted, his bond was set at $500,000.

In a filing last week, Sellers’ attorney, Aaron Meikle, asked the judge to reduce Sellers’ bond to $100,000 because that would be high enough to “compel the defendant’s appearance in court without unduly placing a financial hardship on (Sellers’) family.”

The filing stated another reason for reducing the bond: “the state’s witness against the defendant has since recanted, and physical evidence produced (by police and prosecutors) tends to cling with (Sellers’) statement. Therefore, a hearing may be necessary to determine whether such a high bond is necessary as it is akin to holding him without bond.”

The reduction of bond to $100,000 with 10% allowed “would afford (Sellers) the presumption of innocence and ensure that he is not punished before being convicted,” Meikle wrote.” He added that if necessary, the judge could impose a requirement that Sellers wear an electronically monitored ankle bracelet while on bond “that would be the least restrictive alternative that would allow the court to track (Sellers’) whereabouts”

D’Apolito has not ruled on the motion and has not yet scheduled a hearing date on the matter.

A pretrial hearing in the Sellers case is set for 10 a.m. Aug. 28, and he is set for trial Nov. 18.

Staff photo / Ed Runyan
Danyo Sellers, 17, is charged with the April 2023 shooting death of 15-year-old Amya Monserrat. His attorney, Aaron Meikle, says the chief witness in the case has “recanted” his testimony and Meikle is asking that Sellers’ bond be reduced.