Staff photo / Ed Runyan Defense attorney Frank Cassese, left, confers with defendants, from left, Kenneth Carter and Terry Hopkins during a break in testimony Thursday in their murder trial.

YOUNGSTOWN — The attorneys for Kenneth L. Carter, 35, and Terry Hopkins, 23, called two Youngstown police officers to the witness stand Thursday as the final witnesses of Carter and Hopkins’ murder trial to raise questions about whether officers followed proper protocols when handling evidence in the case.

The trial resumes this morning with closing arguments, and the jury will begin to deliberate later in the morning.

The prosecution rested its case after the lead detective in the case, Youngstown police Sgt. Phil Skowron, testified in the early afternoon in the courtroom of Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Then the defense called veteran patrol officer John Wess, who was one of the first officers to respond to Griselda Avenue on Jan. 24, 2025, regarding the shooting of Rasean Graham, 42.

First, defense attorney Frank Cassese asked Wess questions about what was shown in the body camera of a fellow Youngstown police officer from the downstairs area of the home shortly after officers arrived.

Cassese pointed to an officer on the video seen doing chest compressions on Graham and identified him as Patrolman Ian Rudolph, though Wess said Rudolph apparently did chest compressions before Wess arrived.

Cassese asked Wess if he could tell if Rudolph was wearing latex gloves when he was doing the chest compressions. Wess said, “It appears he does not.” Then Wess got down from the witness stand to see the video monitor closer and then answered with more certainty.

“Does he have gloves on?” Cassese asked.

“No,” Wess said.

Cassese asked what observations Wess made about the inside of the house, and Wess said it looked like a “scuffle ensued in the house due to turned over furniture, a table, I believe it was.”

He said he believes he saw bullet shell casings on the floor but did not know what type, though he reviewed the video and believes someone identified them as rifle shell casings.

Cassese asked if Wess remembered “talking about shell casings,” and Wess said he did not. Cassese played a section of Wess’ body camera that captured Wess saying “How are their rifle rounds in the house, and there are no bullet holes in the wall?”

Cassese asked if Wess found that “odd,” and Wess said he did.

It’s not clear what point Cassese was trying to make regarding the lack of bullet holes in the wall.

But under cross examination, Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor John Juhasz asked Wess if sometimes bullet holes are found in walls later, after the police have left, and Wess said yes.

Rudolph was the next witness. He said he had been a Youngstown police officer for two years. He said he was one of the first officers to arrive at the Griselda house.

When he got there, he went inside the house, saw the victim on the floor. Two other officers were there already. He and Det. Sgt. Rick Spotleson searched the house. There were no ambulance personnel there yet, so he attempted life saving measures on Graham.

Cassese asked Rudolph if he remembered something Rudolph said to other officers about “some doubts you had related to the crime scene?”

Rudolph said he did not. So Rudolph was shown body camera footage outside the hearing of jurors and asked the question again. Rudolph then said “I believe I said it didn’t appear that the male had passed away in that living room.”

Then Cassese asked Rudolph about his role later that evening in the arrest of Carter elsewhere in the city. Cassese showed body camera footage, and Rudolph agreed it was his.

It showed Rudolph putting on gloves to handle a firearm that Rudolph took out of Carter’s pocket. Rudolph agreed that he did that to preserve evidence.

Not long after that, Rudolph was assisting a fellow officer, who put something on the roof of a car.

“Did you grab that off the hood?” Cassese asked.

Rudolph said no but added, “Not that I can tell. I can’t recall.”

“What does that look like in your right hand?” Cassese asked.

Rudolph said he could not tell because of the angle of the video monitor. He was allowed to walk closer to the video monitor.

“A watch,” Rudolph said.

Rudolph agreed with Cassese he had no glove on his right hand at the time.

Cassese said it appeared that Rudolph was walking toward a police cruiser, and Rudolph agreed.

Rudolph agreed that he handed the watch to another officer through the window of the other officer’s police cruiser.

“And you gave him the watch, correct?”

“Yes,” Rudolph agreed.

“Can you see his right hand?” Cassese asked.

“Yup,” Rudolph said.

“The right hand? It has the watch,” Rudolph said.

“Is there any gloves on it?” Cassese asked.

“No,” Rudolph said.

Juhasz then asked Rudolph about his comments about where the person on the floor of the home may have died. He asked Rudolph if he is a “medical examiner,” and Rudolph said no.

“You’re not a medical doctor are you?”

“No,” Rudolph said.

“Do you have any idea if somebody has a bullet strike their aorta where the blood goes?” Juhasz asked.

“No,” Rudolph said.

Juhasz then asked Rudolph if he did any chest compressions on the man on the floor, and Rudolph said no. And Rudolph agreed he did not touch the shooting victim in any way.

Cassese then asked Rudolph if he was sure he did not touch the victim.

“Yes,” Rudolph said.

Cassese showed Rudolph body camera video showing Rudolph, apparently doing chest compressions.

“Yea, I’m appearing to touch him,” Rudolph said.

“Are you wearing any gloves?”

“No,” Rudolph said.

Juhasz asked a question after that that was apparently intended to determine whether Rudolph washed his hands between the time Rudolph was in the home on Griselda and when Rudolph helped apprehend Carter. All of the questioning apparently was done to determine whether Rudolph could have contaminated the testing done on Carter’s watch, which was positive for gunshot residue.

Juhasz asked if Rudolph washes his hands after a quick bathroom break, and Rudolph said yes, though Rudolph said he did not recall whether he used the restroom between those two events.