Third day of testimony scheduled Monday in trial of Rowan Sweeney murder suspect

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Testimony is scheduled to resume Monday in the courtroom of Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Anthony D'Apolito in the trial of the final suspect in the murder of a four-year-old Struthers boy.
Brandon Crump, 21, is accused of being the triggerman in a deadly home invasion that claimed the life of four-year-old Rowan Sweeney.
During the first two days of the trial, the prosecution called witnesses, including Sweeney's mother who testified she was on a couch with her son when he was shot.
Investigators say Crump along with Kimonie Bryant, went into a home on Perry Street in Struthers on September 21, 2020, with plans to commit a robbery.
Police say the trio knew that a resident of the home, Yarnell Green Jr., had recently received a check for several thousand dollars in federal pandemic unemployment assistance funds.
According to authorities, Green was shot several times while trying to run away.
A woman sitting in a kitchen chair, Cassandra Marsicola, was shot three times during the robbery.
Also shot were Alexis Schneider and her 4-year-old son Rowan Sweeney, who was sitting on a couch at the time.
Green, who would have been a witness in the case, was later fatally shot in a separate incident in Youngstown.
Although Green had previously identified Crump as one of the triggermen, Judge Anthony D’Apolito has ruled that prosecutors can’t use that evidence in the Crump trial since the defense will not be able to cross-examine him. However, prosecutors say they have other witnesses who will identify Crump during the trial.
Authorities later claimed that Andre McCoy Junior, who was also shot that night, was linked to the crime.
McCoy has since pleaded guilty to murder and Bryant has pleaded guilty to aggravated murder. Sentencing dates have not yet been scheduled for either man, both of whom remain in jail.