YOUNGSTOWN — The prosecution took one day to call all its witnesses and present its case against a mother accused of the negligent death of her 7-year-old son.

After the state rested, Marquaysha Driver’s attorney, Frank Cassese, said they fell short of the mark and asked Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony D’Apolito to entertain a motion to acquit his client.

Driver, 31, was indicted in February 2024 on one count of involuntary manslaughter and four felony counts of endangering children in relation to the Oct. 22, 2023, death of her son, De’Vonte Housley Jr., who was accidentally shot by his 9-year-old brother.

Two years to the day from that tragedy, Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutors Rob Andrews and Jennifer Paris presented their case to a jury, arguing that Driver left the gun where her children were able to reach it. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison.

But after D’Apolito dismissed the jury for the day, Cassese asked the judge to bring the trial to an end, saying the state failed to prove the reckless conduct that is the cornerstone of convicting her on the charges.

Andrews took exception.

“She could have taken the gun upstairs with her, she could have done any number of things to keep it away from these kids and prevent this,” he said. “Clearly, it was still accessible, and that violates the duty of care.”

Witnesses included lead investigator Youngstown Detective Sgt. Ron Barber, social worker Courtney Wilson and nurse Amanda McAllen from Akron Children’s Hospital’s Child Advocacy Center, Shakir Perkins — a patrolman assigned to YPD’s crime lab — a Cuyahoga County medical examiner, and the boy’s grandmother.

The evidence and witnesses told the court that Driver had taken her brother to Fin, Feather and Fur two days before the incident, where he bought the 9 mm handgun used in the shooting, along with a shotgun. Driver told police and interviewers that her brother left the gun there on Oct. 21, 2023, and she found it while cleaning up after the children went to bed that night.

She said she hid it on the mantel, behind the television, where she believed it would be out of sight and out of reach of her kids, and covered it up with some papers.

But in the early morning of Oct. 22, De’Vonte and his older brother went to look for batteries for the TV remote, which were usually kept on the mantel, and found the gun. They brought it to their bedroom.

Throughout the day’s testimony, the jury learned that De’Vonte was holding the gun, with the barrel pointed at him, when his older brother pulled the slide on the weapon, causing it to discharge and shoot De’Vonte in the chest.

Kaitlyn Weaver of the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office performed the boy’s autopsy and told the court the bullet caused damage to his lungs and heart and severed his spine. She said he likely did not live more than a minute after being shot.

Casses told the court that Driver still has custody of her four other children, and that she voluntarily went to the police station the day after her son’s death to speak with police without an attorney.

Paris told the court the case is not about whether the boy’s death was a tragedy, but whether Driver let it happen “with heedless indifference to the consequences.”

“We don’t let children play in the street because we know there’s the risk that they may be hit by a car. We don’t leave prescription bottles out because we know the risk there’s the risk a child may take a pill that could harm them. And we don’t leave loaded guns laying around where children could reach them and get shot,” she said in her opening statement.

During her testimony, McAllen told the court that she interacted with three of Driver’s other children in December, including the boy who was involved with the shooting. Two of them were not able to be interviewed, but their case files from children’s services were reviewed, and McAllen said she confirmed a finding of child abuse and neglect for those children.

However, after the jury left, both sides clarified that the finding was based solely on the allegation that the children were left unsupervised in a home with easy access to a loaded gun.

D’Apolito ruled against Cassese at the end of the day, stating that Paris and Andrews had presented enough evidence that the jury should make the decision. But the judge also noted how complicated the jury’s job may be.

The first count of the indictment, involuntary manslaughter, is predicated upon the jury deciding that Driver is guilty of felony-level child endangerment which in turn led to a death. He said he will have to take the evening to review the state of Ohio’s standards for providing instructions to the jury on how to deliberate the case before court reconvenes this morning.

It was unclear on Wednesday afternoon whether Cassese would present any rebuttal evidence or call any witnesses today.