Akeem Hargrove is handcuffed after Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Anthony D’Apolito announced that Hargrove had been found guilty of aggravated murder Monday afternoon. He will be sentenced later. His attorney, Stanley Booker, is at bottom.

YOUNGSTOWN — Jurors found Akeem Hargrove guilty of aggravated murder and murder Monday afternoon in the Dec. 22, 2022, murder of Devin Bell outside of the Shell gas station on South Avenue in Youngstown.

The jury deliberated about six hours Monday after deliberating about six hours Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court before announcing their verdict. Hargrove will be sentenced later.

The tension in Judge Anthony D’Apolito’s courtroom was heavy as the judge began to read the verdicts about 4:30 p.m. Hargrove, 32, sat next to his attorney, Stanley Booker.

Earlier Monday, it looked possible that no verdict would be rendered because the jury was deadlocked and reported it to the judge. Eventually, D’Apolito read a statement to the jurors referred to as a Howard Charge, which is meant to encourage a deadlocked jury to reach a verdict.

Also Monday, a juror was excused from the panel, and an alternate was substituted onto the jury. It’s not known what the reason was for the juror being excused, but it left the panel with no room to lose another member because there were no alternates left.

The jury already had been carried over to Monday after spending all of last week hearing evidence and statements from the attorneys and the judge.

Hargrove’s trial started with jury selection Aug. 11 and continued with opening statements and the start of testimony Tuesday. Testimony continued through Thursday.

Closing arguments by the attorneys and jury instructions from D’Apolito took place Friday morning, followed by jury deliberations that lasted until about 6:15 p.m.

Hargrove did not testify, but his co-defendant, Zachary Bair, 35, testified, as did Hargrove’s ex-girlfriend. Assistant Summit County prosecutor Christopher DeLisio told jurors in opening statements Monday that Bair “confessed to committing the murder of Devin Bell with Akeem Hargrove.

DeLisio is one of two special prosecutors handling the case after the Mahoning County prosecutor’s office asked to withdraw because of a conflict of interest. Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro represented Hargrove in the case starting in 2023 as defense attorney. She was elected county prosecutor in November of 2024.

The other prosecutor was Brad Gessner, a former Mahoning County assistant prosecutor who is now chief counsel for the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office.