03-03-2025
Jurors hear closing arguments in East Side murder case
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Just because a man was shot in his house does not mean Andre Bailey is complicit in his murder, his attorney told jurors in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court today during closing arguments.
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Andre Bailey, 40, is charged with aggravated murder for the Oct. 17 shooting death of 24-year-old Reynaldo Hernandez. Bailey's attorney, Walter Madison, said Bailey did not plan to shoot Hernandez and that Bailey cleaned up evidence of the shooting afterward — including putting Hernandez in a car and dumping him at a cemetery on the Sharon Line — because he was engaged in criminal activity while out on bond in another case.
'Somebody just got shot in his house and he doesn't want the police in his house because he's engaging in wrongdoing,' Madison said before Visiting Judge W. Wyatt McKay.
Assistant Prosecutor John Juhasz said there is plenty of video evidence from a myriad of cameras Bailey had placed around his Bott Street home that show him with a gun, show him chasing Hernandez through his home, show him pitching in with others to clean up blood and other evidence in his home, and show him picking up a bleeding Hernandez from the driveway, placing him in a car and driving away.
Hernandez's body was found the next morning at the cemetery and Liberty Road and Wardle Avenue.
Jurors were seated Feb. 24 and heard testimony Wednesday and Thursday last week before taking a break Friday. They are expected to begin deliberating after being instructed in the law by Judge McKay.
Jurors can't get inside someone's mind, but they can judge a person by their actions, and they can judge Bailey by his actions because it is all on video, Juhasz said.
He said Bailey never called police and that someone was shot in Bailey's home and Hernandez lay in the driveway for over 10 minutes and no one called an ambulance or came to help him.
Hernandez also suffered a gunshot wound to the back, which would be hard for someone to sustain if they came to the house and pulled a gun on Bailey and the others who were there, Juhasz said.
Hernandez was seen entering the house with a bag but police never found a bag, Juhasz said.
Madison said prosecutors could not prove Bailey knew Hernandez was going to be shot by others in his house. Two co-defendants had earlier pleaded guilty to tampering and obstruction charges.
'To be complicit, he has to do something more than just be there,' Madison said.
Madison began his argument by playing jurors a snippet of the Bob Marley song, 'I Shot The Sheriff,' saying the song is a metaphor for the difference between wrongdoing and guilt.
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