CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Two men charged with capital murder in a 1999 triple slaying are fighting to keep their trials separate.
Maurice Alexander Johnson, 28, and Mike “Money” Younger, 33, were in court Friday for the first round of motion hearings leading up to a Sept. 22 trial.
But it will be at least May 2 before a judge rules whether to grant the prosecution’s request to try them together.
Prosecutors filed new charges of conspiracy against both men Friday, claiming they acted in unison to carry out the execution-style slayings.
Mr. Younger’s attorney, Kim Parton, argued that trying the men together may make give jurors the perception that they are “guilty by association.”
“Two men’s lives are on the line and they are entitled to a heightened level of due process,” said attorney John Cavett, who is co-counsel for Mr. Younger.
District Attorney General Steven Bebb said a single trial will expedite the 9-year old case.
“While I respect this heightened sense (of due process), our victims got no heightened sense of anything,” Mr. Bebb said.
In the new indictments made public in court Friday, the prosecution said the men conspired to kill O.J. Blair, 18, and after arriving at the apartment, conspired to kill Cayci Higgins, 19, and Dawn Rogers, 25.
Defense lawyers argued the charges were a ploy by prosecutors wanting to consolidate the trials, but Criminal Court Judge Amy Reedy denied a request to dismiss the new counts.
Cleveland Police Department Detective Duff Brumley recently described the shootings as the most heinous crime in the city’s history.
Mr. Brumley briefly testified Friday about evidence he has collected in the case, including wire-tapped phone conversations that he said implicate the two men in the killings.
The detective acknowledged that there is “considerably more” evidence against Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Parton attacked the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, who have claimed they heard Mr. Johnson and Mr. Younger boast about the killings.
She asked if one of the witnesses was “a crack-addicted woman,” and it was acknowledged in court that many of the witnesses have a history with drugs.
Mr. Brumley said the wire-tap was also used to collect evidence that Mr. Johnson sold narcotics.
Twanna “Tart” Blair, the sole survivor of the shootings and the cousin of O.J. Blair, is charged with perjury and conspiracy to commit murder.
Ms. Blair was free on bond, but was jailed when her probation was revoked after a nightclub scuffle last week. She appeared briefly in court Friday for arraignment on the new charges, but her involvement in the Valentine’s slaying was not discussed because her attorney wasn’t present.
