YOUNGSTOWN — Defense attorney Nick Brevetta tried to raise doubt in the minds of jurors in the Lynell Stanley felonious assault trial Wednesday by questioning why prosecutors did not call one of the principal participants in an Oct. 13 incident on East Lucius Avenue as a witness.

During closing arguments, Brevetta pointed out that Stanley’s girlfriend, who the teen victims said they were trying to defend from Stanley’s assaults, never testified during the three-day trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

“Do you want police not … running down leads that they know might provide evidence?” Brevetta asked of interviewing the woman.

He said it is the state’s burden to prove the case and provide witnesses, not the defense.

Later Wednesday, a jury found Stanley not guilty on all counts, two counts of felonious assault and one count of misdemeanor assault. It was clear from his reaction that he was relieved to be found not guilty.

In Brevetta’s remarks, he also suggested that there were significant inconsistencies in the stories the three alleged victims told on the witness stand.

And he said the reason the state carries the burden to prove the case is because the state — prosecutors and police officers — “have detectives, they have police, they arrive on scene and can take statements. My client doesn’t have that.”

Brevetta also told the jurors that their role in the American system of government is to stand up to the government because the founders of the country “were terrified of government repression. They had just fought the Revolution, and they were terrified. And they knew that the only way to protect the citizens from the government was other citizens.”

He said the jurors have incredible power, what he called “Athenian Democracy at its finest. We have 12 citizens who are going to go back and cast direct — not representative vote, like a Senator who will vote for something I want. I’m not voting for an electoral college person. This is direct democracy in action,” Brevetta said.

He also placed the judge in the case — Anthony D’Apolito and all judges — on the state side of the legal system, saying “The only people who are not part of the state are (the defendant), myself and you guys (jurors). The police officers are part of the state.”

He told the jurors they should not let prosecutors “shift” the burden of proving the case to the defense by saying Brevetta should have called Stanley’s girlfriend to the stand.

He said the state has the responsibility to talk to people who know facts about the case and present the evidence — “even if they don’t like it, even if it favors the accused.”

He said Stanley, 40, was approached by three boys, the biggest of them being over 300 pounds, on Oct. 13. “Is it reasonable to believe that at dark with three people you don’t know — each of them bigger than you — approaching you and they are yelling at you — to think that you might have to use force? It’s three on one.”

During testimony in the trial, the largest and oldest of the teens said he is autistic.

Brevetta said one of the three teens said a bottle was broken in the fight that followed the initial contact. But two of the teens never mentioned a bottle. He said he thinks the teens made poor decisions that put them in a bad position, and it got them injured.

PROSECUTION

When Assistant Prosecutor Katherine Jones spoke the second time in closing arguments, she said there is only one person on trial — “and it’s not the victims of this case. It’s this defendant, Lynell Stanley. His actions are on trial. You heard from the victims in this case.”

She said the state “is not required to produce all witnesses that might have been at a scene. The state is required to meet its burden. The defense chooses whether or not to put on a case. The state has that same right.

“The state showed that (Stanley) was aggressive toward a woman,” Jones said. The oldest of the three teens “told you about stepping in to calm the situation down, and the defendant directed his aggression and anger and agitation toward him.”

Stanley “charged at (the older teen). The defendant made first contact. The defendant broke (the older teen’s) nose,” requiring stitches. “The defendant knocked (one of the 15-year-olds) unconscious. The defendant busted (the other 15-year-old’s) lip. And (Stanley) bruised” the other 15-year-old.

Then Stanley left, returning later and chasing the two 15-year-olds, ending at a nearby gas station, where the boys locked the door from the inside while a store employee called 911.

She said there was discussion during jury selection about the credibility of witness statements. “You don’t judge credibility by perfection,” Jones said. “You don’t expect identical memories from a fast, chaotic event. You look at whether the testimony makes sense.”

She said a month after the incident, in a call while in the jail, Stanley “was still agitated and angry and mocking the victims, mocking the boy who stepped in to calm a volatile situation to protect a woman, in the defendant’s own words.”

If Stanley had been convicted of the felonious assaults, he could have gotten about 16 years in prison.

PROSECUTOR

LYNN MARO

When Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro was asked about the not-guilty verdicts Wednesday, which have been numerous in recent months, she stated in a text message: “These are difficult cases to try. We don’t get to pick our witnesses or our victims. The jury expressed some concerns over inconsistencies between the testimony of two young victims, one of them with special needs,” she said.

“We will continue to prosecute these difficult cases, and when we need, to take the cases to trial.”