Sentencing hearings for two of the main people involved in the 2020 murder of 4-year-old Rowan Sweeney in Youngstown have been postponed, court officials announced.
Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova explained that delaying the sentencing for Kimonie Bryant, who is the third person involved in the case and is 27 years old, also caused the sentences for his two partners in the crime to be postponed.
DeGenova said there’s a rule to not talk about the case, but since Kimonie Bryant broke his deal, they need to sort that out before they can sentence Andre McCoy Jr., who’s 24.
Brandon Crump Jr.’s sentencing hearing is being postponed because his lawyer wants to bring in an expert to talk about how being young when he committed the crimes might affect how long he stays in prison.
She noticed that Bryant’s case has been postponed 13 times because the defense keeps asking for more time.
MCCOY
McCoy was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday morning, but that’s been postponed, according to the judge’s office. They’re talking about picking a new date for the sentencing, said Ryan Kadel, who works with Judge Anthony D’Apolito.
Since last August, there haven’t been any new documents filed in McCoy’s case explaining why his sentencing hearing got delayed.
Crump was supposed to be sentenced today, but the court decided to delay it. Kadel, the spokesperson, mentioned that they don’t have any documents explaining why the delay was requested.
McCoy and Crump might spend their whole lives in prison.
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CRUMP
On March 21, Judge D’Apolito agreed to a request from attorney Lou DeFabio, who represents Crump, to hire an expert witness. This witness will help understand things like the age of the defendant when the crime was committed, and how that age affects their thinking, maturity, impulsiveness, and understanding of risks and consequences. They’ll also look into the defendant’s family situation at the time of the crimes.
The expert will examine things like how the defendant couldn’t control what was happening around him, any past experiences of trauma related to his school life, his history of special education, and how family and friends might have influenced his behavior.
DeFabio requested help from an expert to gather info and give testimony about Crump’s youth and other things. Crump is 21 now and was 17 when the crime happened.
Crump was found guilty in court in Mahoning County of all 16 charges against him. These charges include the most serious one, aggravated murder of Rowan, as well as attempting to murder and hurting four adults. This happened after a trial that lasted almost two weeks with a jury.
The prosecutors have stated that Crump could be sentenced to spend anywhere from 30 years to life in prison. He might become eligible for parole after 25 years.
Around 1:50 a.m. on September 21, 2020, Crump entered 111 Perry Street in Struthers and fired a .45-caliber handgun at five people in the living room. As a result, four adults, including Rowan’s mother, Alexis Schneider, were injured by the gunfire.
One important evidence in the trial was information from cellphones. It showed that Crump and Bryant’s phones were in the same area near the home on Perry Street when the crime happened.
Bryant admitted he did something wrong in the case. He was supposed to be punished on April 17, but it didn’t happen.
Instead, the people involved talked about the case with D’Apolito in private. Bryant doesn’t have a date yet for when he’ll be sentenced, but there’s a meeting planned for June 28 and another one on July 2. These meetings are probably about Bryant possibly breaking the agreement he made with the court.
The county prosecutor’s office in the Bryant case says that Bryant allegedly lied about some things related to the agreement he made with them.
The document told the judge and Bryant’s defense team that prosecutors plan to suggest a longer sentence than the 20-year-to-life term Bryant was originally told he might get when he pleaded guilty.
Bryant didn’t testify for the prosecution in Crump’s trial because of the lie, the document said.
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