In Mahoning County Commons Pleas Court, the attorney for Brandon Crump Jr., one of the men charged in the death of 4-year-old Struthers boy Rowan Sweeney, filed a motion to dismiss the case.

According to the court filing, Attorney Louis DeFabio and Attorney Edward Hartwig filed the motion in Mahoning County Common Pleas on Thursday.

According to the filing, the motion asks that the court dismiss all counts against Crump except the aggravated escape and aggravated robbery charges. The charges that the attorneys are asking to be dismissed include aggravated assault, aggravated murder, and attempted murder.

Because the defendant was a juvenile at the time that the charges were allegedly committed by Crump, the motion states that based on recent Ohio Supreme Court rulings in similar cases, Crump was only 17 at the time of his arrest, but was never charged with the offenses in Mahoning County Juvenile Court.

The attorneys claim that based on the findings of State v. Smith, the court lacks jurisdiction to proceed with the case against Crump, and that the charges must be dismissed or transferred back to the Mahoning County Juvenile Court.

Four-year-old Rowan Sweeney was killed on September 21, 2020, during a mass shooting at a home on the 100 block of Perry Street in Struthers. Four other adults were also injured in the shooting.

Crump is one of the people charged with Sweeney's death.
 

Crump was 17 years old when the shooting happened but was moved to the Mahoning County Jail just one day after turning 18.

He was captured by authorities after he tried to escape from the Juvenile Justice Center in November 2020.