New trial set in murder case
YOUNGSTOWN - A disgraced former common pleas court judge's partially closing a 2004 murder trial to the public resulted in a death row inmate being granted another trial.
U.S. Northern District Judge Sara Lioi ruled that former Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas Judge Maureen A. Cronin violated death-row inmate John Drummond's right to a public trial when she closed the trial to the public during the questioning of three witnesses.
Drummond was charged with killing 3-month old Jiyen Dent Jr. on March 24, 2003, in a gang-retaliation shooting. He was convicted of aggravated murder, attempted murder, two counts of attempting to cause bodily harm through the use of a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure and use of a firearm while under disability.
The convictions for the Lincoln Knolls Crips gang included death penalty specifications of killing or attempting to kill two or more persons and killing someone 13 or younger.
Lioi ordered another trial or that his sentence be dismissed in the next 180 days. The Ohio Attorney General's Office is appealing the judge's decision.
Attorneys Timothy C. Ivey, David L. Doughten and Alan C. Rossman, representing Drummond, argued that Drummond's Sixth Amendment rights were violated by Cronin, who is in the midst of serving a 27-month prison sentence for taking a $18,000 no-interest cash loan from the co-owner of a prominent area business, closed the courtroom for portions of his trial on Feb. 4, 2004.
The attorneys also argued that Cronin's order to close the court to all spectators except members of the media the following day violated Drummond's rights, but Lioi ruled that his trial attorneys failed to object to the ruling on Feb. 5.
On Feb. 4, prosecutors questioned James "Cricket" Rozenbald, who testified he was nervous about testifying. Cronin, before Rozenbald was cross-examined, ordered everyone to leave not only the courtroom but also the entire building because of altercations between spectators Michael Peace and Damian Williams.
Cronin explained to those who remained in the courtroom that some of the witnesses felt threatened by the spectators and that one spectator showed "total disrespect in chambers and gave deputies a very hard time" and that he and another spectator were involved in a physical altercation Feb. 3.
Drummond's trial attorney, James Gentile, objected to the closure.
The courtroom was kept clear for the questioning of two other witnesses, Nathaniel Morris and Yaraldean Thomas.
Lioi's ruling overturned an Ohio Supreme Court decision that upheld Cronin's closure.
Lioi wrote that Cronin failed to consider other alternatives and that she never offered specific rationale for closing the courtroom. She also ruled that the court could have taken other steps because there was no documented threat of a repeat incident Feb. 4. Cronin knew who the two men who created the problems were and could have them removed from the courtroom.
She also disagreed with the Ohio Supreme Court's rational when they wrote that the "dangerous nature of gang violence and the genuine need to protect witnesses testifying against gang members from the deadly threat of retaliation." Lioi wrote that there were no apparent security concerns the morning of Feb. 4, when the courtroom was open to spectators.
"While the presence of the media certainly may address the societal need for public trials, it cannot act as an absolute substitute where, as here, it cannot be determined from the record that the media was present for the entire duration of the closure," she said.
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