YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A teen facing robbery and firearm charges in Mahoning County Juvenile Court in the case involving the September shooting death of a 4-year-old Struthers boy has had his case bound over to common pleas court.
A grand jury will now hear charges of aggravated robbery with a firearm specification against Brandon Crump, 18.
Crump also had separate felony juvenile charges of escape and assault bound over to the grand jury.
Judge Theresa Dellick bound both cases over to common pleas court March 3.
Crump is charged with a robbery that preceded the Sept. 21 shooting death of Rowan Sweeney and wounding of four others in a Struthers home.
Crump is not charged with the death of Sweeney. Kimonie Bryant, 24, faces an aggravated murder charge with a death penalty specification for the death of Sweeney and attempted murder charges for the wounding of the other four people.
Crump was not arrested until a few weeks after Sweeney’s death at a home on the East Side of Youngstown. Investigators said he was one of three people who tried to escape juvenile detention Nov. 15 at the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center, but he got caught in razor wire.
Crump is now being housed in the county jail.
Police said Sweeney was killed during a robbery of Yarnell Green, one of the victims who had just received a stimulus check. That is the person Crump is accused of robbing.
Attorneys argued Tuesday in common pleas court before Judge Anthony D’Apolito on the death penalty specifications against Bryant. Bryant’s attorney, John Juhasz, has asked that the death penalty specifications against his client be dismissed. Prosecutors disagree.
Judge D’Apolito did not issue a decision Tuesday. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 13.