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Youngstown man takes stand in own defense, says victim had weapon
By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008
Marquez Perry said he did not have a gun on the night two people were shot to death in the parking lot of an Akron strip club.
The 19-year-old Youngstown man took the stand in his own defense Tuesday morning, telling a Summit County jury that one of the victims, Scott E. Smith of Akron, pulled a gun during a botched New Year's Day drug deal inside a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer parked at Lisa's Cabaret.
''I looked back at Mr. Smith and I noticed him reaching for something at his left side,'' Perry said.
It was then, he said, that a frantic struggle began.
Perry testified that he grabbed Smith's left arm, lunged into the rear driver-side seat and began wrestling with Smith as Smith repeatedly pulled the trigger of a black semiautomatic handgun.
Smith, 33, was hit by five shots, and Tammy S. Dickey, Perry's 30-year-old girlfriend, was hit twice — the fatal shot hitting her in the right side of the neck, according to autopsy evidence.
But no one else in Perry's double-murder trial said anything about Smith having a gun that night.
And when it was time for closing arguments, Assistant County Prosecutor Jay Cole told the jury Perry's testimony was ''a lie and nothing more than that.''
Cole then urged jurors to question themselves about Perry's story.
''How is that possible? He says Scott pulled that gun out from his left side, with his left hand, and pointed it at him? And he comes over the seat . . . grabbing his left arm and they struggled for that weapon?
''Ask yourself that,'' Cole urged again. ''How did Scott Smith, while he's struggling for his gun in front of him, get shot from the right to the left and across his back?''
Deputy Medical Examiner Dorothy Dean, who performed Smith's autopsy, said the paths of all five shots were right to left. The fatal shot — in the lower abdomen — traveled upward, back and to the left, she said.
Dean said the shot that hit Smith in the back was a nonfatal, grazing wound that traveled from top-right to bottom-left.
Perry, whose trial is in its second week, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, various gun specifications and other alleged offenses.
If he is convicted of the most serious charges, he would face life in prison with no parole, or life with parole possibility after 20, 25 or 30 years, according to Ohio sentencing guidelines.
Common Pleas Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer is hearing the difficult case.
Jurors were sent home early Tuesday evening without reaching a verdict.
Complicating the case is the defense assertion, supported by prosecution witnesses and Perry's testimony, that there was a another person from Youngstown in the Blazer.
According to a seating diagram offered by prosecutors, Dickey was driving the Blazer; Perry was in the front passenger seat; Smith was in the rear seat behind Dickey with a one-pound bag of marijuana tucked inside his coat; and the fourth person was in the rear passenger-side seat.
Akron and Youngstown police, however, have been unable to find that man.
Defense lawyer Jason Wells has called him the ''Mystery Man.''
Known to Perry only by his first name, Brian, Perry testified that the mystery man accompanied him on the trip to the cabaret and did most of the shooting with another black semiautomatic handgun.
Akron police testified that both guns were black 9 mm Highpoints.
When the struggle began and Smith began pressing the trigger of his gun, Perry testified that ''Brian'' began firing his gun at Smith.
Smith was found by police and paramedics, dying of his wounds, in the cabaret parking lot after the Blazer sped away.
Perry, who testified that he was steering the Blazer and pressing the accelerator from the passenger seat, flagged down the police from the parking lot of East Market Auto Sales at East Market and Seiberling streets, about five blocks east of the cabaret.
A woman whose vehicle was nearly hit by the Blazer during the getaway had phoned in a description of the Blazer to police.
Assistant Prosecutor Becky Doherty told the jury that believing Perry's story about what happened would be ''completely incredible.''
Doherty said Perry and the mystery man both had guns, went to Akron under the pretense of a drug deal and intended to rob Smith without paying him anything.
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
Marquez Perry said he did not have a gun on the night two people were shot to death in the parking lot of an Akron strip club.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 07:51 AM, 10/15/2008
Yea right - GUILTY AS CHARGED!
Barberton, OH
Posted 11:52 AM, 10/15/2008
LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE!!!!! OR MAYBE EYE FOR AN EYE WOULD BE BETTER!!
Barberton, OH
Posted 12:00 PM, 10/15/2008
Who cares if the gun was his or not! Two people are dead!
Posted 01:32 PM, 10/15/2008
Too bad this kid didn't get shot and die too....less Akron drug dealing trash to deal with.
Posted 02:19 PM, 10/15/2008
YES, TRUE ENOUGH TWO PEOPLE ARE DEAD AND HE'S THE ONLY ONE CAUGHT UP; BUT WHERE IS THE "MYSTERY MAN" AND DID THEY REALLY TRY TO FIND HIM. DON'T CONVICT IF YOU WEREN'T THERE. WHAT IF IT WAS YOUR SON, BROTHER OR NEPHEW. WE HAVE ENOUGH YOUNG BLACK MALES IN THE CORRECTIONS SYSTEM, WE DON'T NEED ANY MORE.
akron, oh
Posted 02:27 PM, 10/15/2008
Hey Tami - It would NOT be my son, brother or nephew on trial for a murder in the parking lot of a seedy strip club. But thanks for introducing us to your world.
akron, oh
Posted 05:55 PM, 10/15/2008
So much for that defense; the jury just found him guilty. Perry will be doing some lap dancing of his own now that he is off to the big house.
akron, oh
Posted 08:48 PM, 10/15/2008
if he goes to prison--just make sure he does't eat like scrumbag cooey did or he'll call that he's too fat.
