Trial delayed for teen charged in shooting of Orange Township resident

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The trial for a Columbus teenager charged with shooting an Orange Township teen has been delayed again in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.

Isaiah Steele, 19, was scheduled to stand trial on Tuesday in Delaware County Common Pleas Court to face charges of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, which carries a firearm specification that could add additional prison time if Steele is convicted; improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation/in a school safety zone, a second-degree felony; receiving stolen property, a fourth-degree felony; and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

However, assistant county prosecutor Mark Sleeper filed a motion Friday, asking Delaware County Common Pleas Judge Everett Krueger to delay the trial because “the interests of justice require additional time for consideration of how to proceed with this case.”

In the motion, Sleeper also asks that Steele be released on a recognizance bond until his trial. Sleeper said that if Steele remained in custody he would have to stand trial by Sept. 7 but, if he is released, the trial could be delayed to Oct. 21.

Krueger granted the motion Monday morning and Steele’s trial was scheduled for Sept. 20.

Krueger also ordered that Steele be discharged from the Delaware County Jail, where he has been incarcerated since April 13. Steele was discharged from the jail Monday afternoon.

The charges stem from an April 13 fight between two groups of teenagers in the area of Blue Holly Drive in Lewis Center. Prosecutors allege Steele used a handgun during the fight to shoot 19-year-old Pierce Yurkowski-Gray of several times. Yurkowski-Gray has since been released from the hospital.

During the fight, three other teenagers said they were robbed or assaulted by Steele, and two other teens who were with him — Terrance Jewell, 19, and Kayle Cantrell, 19.

They were indicted by a grand jury on April 22 and were all originally scheduled to stand trial on June 21, but the trial was delayed. The cases were later severed and three trials were scheduled.

Jewell is scheduled to stand trial on Aug. 23 and face a charge of felonious assault, a first-degree felony; robbery, a second-degree felony; and theft, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Cantrell was originally charged with felony robbery but prosecutors later filed a motion asking for the felony case to be dismissed. Prosecutors said that Cantrell would be pleading guilty to an assault and theft charge in Delaware Municipal Court on Sept. 9.

Jewell was still in the Delaware County Jail Monday afternoon.

Steele
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/08/web1_Isaiah-Steele.jpgSteele Courtesy photo | Delaware County Jail

By Glenn Battishill

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Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

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