CLEVELAND, Ohio — Convicted Warrensville Heights barbershop shooter Douglas Shine Jr. may testify in the trial of his brother who is charged with aggravated murder and conspiracy in the death of a witness, court records show.
Shine was brought to the Cuyahoga County Jail from Toledo Correctional Institution on Thursday, the same day lawyers for Kevin McKinney filed court records naming Shine and two others as a potential defense witnesses.
The other witnesses include Jesus Bey, who is charged with killing a man earlier this month outside a restaurant and was recorded talking to Shine from jail about the shooting.
McKinney is accused of plotting with Shine the killing of Aaron “Pudge” Ladson, who was a witness to the Feb. 5, 2015 triple killing inside Chalk Linez Barbershop on Harvard Road.
Ladson identified Shine as the shooter and was going to testify in his trial. Prosecutors say Shine and McKinney had a third man, Lawrence Kennedy, kill Ladson in an effort to silence Ladson’s testimony, according to prosecutors.
Ladson was shot dead on June 4, 2015, as he walked from his home to his car as he headed to a court hearing in an unrelated drug case.
Shine was convicted for a series of shootings, including the barbershop massacre, and his role in plotting Ladson’s death. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December.
McKinney’s trial began this month, and features much of the same evidence that was presented in Shine’s trial.
But McKinney’s lawyers, Jeffrey Saffold and Daniel Tirfagnehu, surprised prosecutors by including Shine on their proposed witness list. The filing does not mean Shine will testify.
Saffold, in opening statements, laid much of the blame for McKinney’s charges at the feet of Shine, who is currently appealing his conviction and still maintains his innocence in the shooting.
“Maybe the mistake Buffy made was he continued to maintain a relationship with Duke,” Saffold said, referring to McKinney and Shine by their respective nicknames.
Ladson’s mother, Angela Ladson, said that she learned Friday morning that she may have to face Shine again.
“It was a slap to the face to hear that,” she said.
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