Double murder trial end of day 5: Witness testifies he saw his brother shoot victims
After being beaten and terrorized in the basement of a house along Boyer Avenue in Johnstown, James Smith and Damian Staniszewski were placed in their vehicle by members of a drug gang and driven to another area in the late afternoon of March 27, 2017.
The victims must have seen a wooded area outside their vehicle's window when the truck stopped. The two men probably had some idea what was happening. After all, they had admitted to stealing large quantities of drugs and money from the gang's stash house in Johnstown. The gang members out of Columbus, Ohio, called the East Main Money Gang, had extended their drug trade into the Johnstown area and are known to be violent, according to Ohio law enforcement.
Drugs and money were found by the gang in their vehicle. Some of it, however, was still missing, according to prosecution witness, Devon Wyrick, from the witness stand in courtroom No. 2 in the Somerset County Court of Common Pleas.
Wyrick, who was severed as a co-defendant in the case last week, said 32-year-old Smith, the biggest in size and the oldest in age of the two friends, took off running. He was shot in the back by one of the co-defendants, Marekus Benson, now on trial for Smith and Staniszewski's murder, along with Samson Washington and Deandre Callender.
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Wyrick testified that Benson, known on the street by the nickname Trig, pulled his gun and shot a bullet into Smith's back, knocking him down. He tried to shoot again but his gun jammed, Wyrick said.
Then Wyrick's brother, Washington, told him and Benson to stay put with the two friends, left and returned sometime later with another gun. He shot twice into the heads of both Smith as he lay on the ground, and Staniszewski, who was close by his friend. The shooters and Wyrick then left the two men's bodies behind in the wooded area. They took off and ditched the two vehicles associated with the two dead friends and went back to a house in Johnstown to eat dinner, Wyrick testified.
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So far, no testimony has placed Deandre Callender at the scene of the kidnapping of Smith and Staniszewski at the Galleria Mall, where they thought they were meeting their dealers for a buy, or for the aggravated assault and unlawful restraint in the basement of the stash house where they were beaten, or at the murder scene in a wooded area. Witnesses did testify that Callender was in a group of vehicles that traveled to Portage right after the gang learned that it was Smith and Staniszewski who robbed the stash house of money and drugs.
Smith lived in Portage; however, he was not home.
She ran
Jasmine Browning was called to the stand on Tuesday and made it halfway to the witness stand in courtroom No. 1 before turning around and walking out. It appears she ran, because Senior Deputy Attorney General Evan Lowry II told the court at the beginning of Wednesday's session that she is unavailable for testimony because she cannot be found.
The bench warrant calls for her apprehension to be brought to the courtroom to testify.
Browning, of Columbus, Ohio, was also charged for her alleged involvement in 2017. Although severed as a co-defendant in the murder trial, she still faces charge.
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Because she is technically unavailable because for more than 24 hours the prosecution searched for her and tried to get in touch but failed, Judge Scott Bittner, who is presiding at the trial, allowed Browning's recorded testimony in two other hearings pertaining to the case to be read to the jury Thursday.
She mainly told the court at those hearings about the arguments among the co-defendants and what it was like the day that Smith and Staniszewski were murdered among the gang in her home that she shared with Washington.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Shooter's brother testifies he saw two men shot to death
