Jurors scrutinize scenes linked to fatal shooting
3/4/2014Jurors who will begin hearing testimony today in the murder trial of Quincy Allen were taken Monday to the Gas & Go Express Market on North Detroit Avenue where La’Quan Dunbar was shot to death.
Faded silk red roses placed in front of the gas station as a memorial to the 20-year-old victim peeked through the snow nearly a year after the April 29 homicide.
Police vehicles with flashing blue lights blocked the entrances to the station while jurors walked around the station, taking note, as a court representative advised, of the gas pumps and the distance from the pumps to the exit.
Allen, 22, of 1343 Oak Hill Ct., is charged in Lucas County Common Pleas Court with two counts of murder each with gang and firearms specifications and one count of participating in a criminal gang stemming from the death of Mr. Dunbar.
Before jury selection began, Ian English, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, told the court that prosecutors had offered Allen a plea agreement in which he would plead guilty to murder, which carries a possible sentence of 15 years to life. All other charges, including an unrelated aggravated robbery case, would be dismissed, Mr. English said.
Allen told Judge Gene Zmuda that he was not interested in the offer and wanted to go to trial.
Jury selection took much of the day. Once seated, jurors went by bus to the crime scene, then to a home on Pinewood Avenue where Allen’s girlfriend lived, and then to the Jesse James Sports Bar on South Reynolds Road where Allen and others allegedly visited before going to the Gas & Go on the night Mr. Dunbar was killed.
Judge Zmuda told jurors to return by 9 a.m. today for opening statements. The trial is likely to last all week.
— Jennifer Feehan