WFMJ.com News weather sports for Youngstown-Warren OhioYoungstown man on trial in double murder

Youngstown man on trial in double murder

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio  -  A Youngstown man is on trial for his life. 

Lorenza Barnett could get the death penalty if convicted of a heinous double murder where the victims were kidnapped, suffocated and their bodies set on fire in a rental car found near the Mahoning River.

Opening statements were held on Tuesday in the Mahoning County Courtroom of Judge Maureen Sweeney. 

Prosecutors say on August 11, 2009 Lorenza Barnett used garbage bags and duct tape as murder weapons to torture and suffocate the victims, 20-year-old Jaron Roland and 19-year-old Darry Woods. 

Prosecutor Rebecca Doherty told the jury, "Those two boys were set on fire, and dumped near the river like trash."

Prosecutors contend they not only have video of the defendant purchasing the trash bags, duct tape and lighter fluid, they say Lorena Barnett's DNA was also left on the evidence taken from the victim's bodies, "Lorenza Barnett's DNA is on the murder weapon of both victims.  And that is every bit as telling to you as DNA on the trigger of a gun," Doherty said.

But the question is why?  Prosecutors say the victims were friends with what they call a north side gang.  Doherty says, "What Woods was thought to be by Lorenza Barnett, Kenneth Moncrief, and Joseph Moreland was a snitch."

The defendant allegedly believed Darry Woods was snitching to an east side gang that was feuding with the north side gang.

But the defense argues that the defendant wasn't even at the north side home where the men were murdered.  Attorney Gerald Ingram told the jury, "Lorenza Barnett was not there.  He was either at home with his sister Sharika who was in town visiting with her own children or across town with his girlfriend."

The defense reminded the jury that there are two sides to every story and that some witnesses in this case have cut deals and can't be trusted.

But the bottom line, two young men were murdered and now a jury will weigh the evidence to determine whether Lorenza Barnett is guilty or not guilty of this heinous crime.