Staff photo / Ed Runyan .... From left, defense attorney Frank Cassese and defendants Kenneth L. Carter, 35, and Terry Hopkins, 23, react after being found not guilty of murder and a gun specification. Carter, however, was found guilty of a gun offense Tuesday.

YOUNGSTOWN — The jury in the murder trial of Kenneth L. Carter, 35, and Terry Hopkins, 23, found both men not guilty of murder and a gun specification Tuesday morning, but found Carter guilty of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle.

Carter and Hopkins were facing a prison sentence of 18 years to life if they had been convicted of the murder charge and gun specification. It means Hopkins is likely to be released soon from Mahoning County jail.

Because Carter was convicted of a weapons offense, he will be sentenced later. He could get about 18 months in prison. No sentencing date is listed in court records.

The jury returned to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday morning and deliberated one hour before announcing it had reached a verdict. The jury had deliberated seven hours Friday before going home about 7 p.m.

Carter and Hopkins were accused of the Jan. 24, 2025, shooting death of Resean Graham Sr., 42, in Graham’s home on Griselda Avenue on the South Side.

Prosecutors said the killing was part of a dispute over the sale of the home. Judge Anthony Donofrio presided over the case.

After the verdicts, Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Kyle Hilles said he thinks the keys to the jury’s decision were whether the jury believed the three family members of Rasean Graham who testified for the state — Resean Graham Jr., who is the 19-year-old son of the victim; James Jennings, who was a good friend of the victim; and Joe Poole, Resean Graham Sr.’s uncle.

“I think it comes down to whether the jury believed them or not. Obviously, we are disappointed in the result. But we are committed to bring these kinds of cases to trial instead of giving low-ball plea offers. It’s obviously a very violent crime. And we want to bring justice to the family. It didn’t go our way this time.”

Defense attorney Dave Betras credited Hilles and Assistant Prosecutor John Juhasz with “doing an excellent job on this case. They had very difficult facts.”

The trial started with jury selection Jan. 12 and opening statements Jan. 13, followed by testimony Jan. 13 through Friday.

Hilles said during opening statements to the jury that Resean Graham Sr., his son Rasean Graham Jr., now 19, and Graham Sr.’s close friend, James Jennings, were staying in the Griselda home at the time of the 7 p.m. shooting.

Prosecutors described Carter and Hopkins as being related to Graham Sr. Hilles said Hopkins was a “family member and a close friend (who Graham Jr.) had known for years.” Hilles said when Carter was arrested a couple of hours after the killing, he had gunshot residue on his wrist. Police also found guns in the car, but not guns associated with Graham’s death, according to court testimony.

Defense attorney Frank Cassese said during opening statements that the testimony of Graham Jr., Jennings and Poole should not be believed.

For one thing, gunfire associated with the killing was detected at 7:04 p.m., Jan. 24, 2025, but the first 911 call about the shooting was not until 7:36 p.m.

Graham Jr. testified that he was sleeping in his bed when he heard footsteps that woke him. Then he heard gunshots and his father saying “‘Why are you shooting me?’ And I heard Ken Carter say ‘Don’t disrespect me again.'”

Graham Jr. testified that he is related to Carter, but “I don’t think of him as family no more.” He said he thinks Carter and Hopkins are brothers, and he thinks Carter lived at the Griselda residence for about 2 1/2 years. He said Carter moved out about “five months or less” before his father died.

Graham Jr. said that after he heard four or five shots in the house, he looked down the stairs, seeing Terry Hopkins, who had on a black ski mask, but it did not cover his whole face.

When it seemed safe, Graham Jr. went down to the living room and saw his fallen father, but he did not see Carter or Hopkins. He saw Jennings because “I guess he was coming back in the house,” Graham Jr. said. Jennings told Graham Jr. to “run with me. That’s what I did. Ran to get help.”

“You didn’t call 911 at that time, right?” Juhasz asked Graham Jr.

“I wasn’t even thinking about my phone,” Graham Jr. said.

When asked a second time about the voice he heard downstairs at his house, Graham Jr. said “I know for a fact it was” Carter.

When asked if there was any doubt that the man in the mask was Terry Hopkins, Graham Jr. said, “I knew it was him.”

Poole testified about being on the phone with Graham Sr. in the moments leading up to Graham Sr. being shot to death. Poole said Graham Sr. told him that Carter was coming over because Carter owed Graham Sr. money.

Poole said he could hear another voice in the house besides Graham Sr. and assumed it was Carter because Graham Sr. had told Poole that Carter was there.

At some point in the phone call, the phone “went dead,” Poole said. Under cross examination by Cassese, Poole confirmed that he did not speak to police about what he knew about his nephew’s murder until more than two months later.

Two Youngstown police officers were called by the defense to testify on the last day of the trial about Youngstown police officers wearing gloves while handling evidence. The testimony indicated that multiple officers failed to wear gloves while handling a watch collected from Carter the night of the killing that later tested positive for gunshot residue.

In closing arguments Friday, Juhasz emphasized the credibility and bravery of Graham Jr. when he testified against Carter and Hopkins.

Juhasz admitted that testimony regarding the lack of gloves might undermine the gunshot-residue evidence but said of the 19-year-old: “You can’t shake that kid’s testimony because it’s the truth.”

Cassese said in his closing arguments that the prosecution asked the jury to “convict two people of murder based on testimony that contradicts science, contradicts common sense and contradicts itself.”

Cassese said there were “problems” with 19-year-old Resean Graham’s testimony, “not because I think he is lying, but because I think he got the wrong information” from Jennings.