The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 65

The Beacon Journal Thursday, August 28, 1997, Page D5 SPECIALS laying 'wasn't supposed to happen' MMr A Defendant in North Hill murder trial says robbery was motive in death of Julius Ricky Norman. Prosecutor says Toby Brown and Jerry Franks both responsible 8 x7' Brown $199 16'x7' Steel White (P.U.) We Also Build Garages Comfort at the Touch of a Simmons Air penalty phase of the trial to determine if there are any mitigating circumstances why his life should be spared. Franks was spared the death penalty after jurors recommended he be sentenced to life without possibility of parole for 30 years. He is scheduled for sentencing before Common Pleas Judge Jane Bond on Sept. 8.

Franks could receive as much as 74 years in prison because, in addition to the murder charge, he also was convicted of two counts of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated burglary, four counts of using a firearm to commit crimes and tampering with evidence. Franks' attorneys, Donald Walker and Jeffrey Haupt, said their client was willing to accept a plea bargain offered by prosecutors that could have meant only 28 years in prison. But the deal fell through because Brown turned down the offer. By David Knox Beactm Journal sUff writer Toby Dee Brown said he only wanted to rob Julius Ricky Norman not kill him. "It wasn't supposed to happen," Brown told a Summit County jury yesterday in the last day of testimony in his death-penalty murder trial.

Brown, 21, of Locust Street, Barberton, is accused of fatally shooting Norman, 30, on Aug. 5, 1996, at his Garfield Street home on North Hill. According to trial testimony, Norman and three others were playing cards in the kitchen about 1:30 a.m. when Brown and an accomplice, Jerry Franks, 26, burst in wearing masks, brandishing 9 mm semiautomatic handguns and demanding money and drugs. When Norman resisted, he was shot four times.

But death was caused by only one of the bullets, which entered Norman's neck and ruptured his aorta. The key issue in the trial is who fired the fatal shot, Brown or Franks. Only one slug from one of the nonfatal wounds was recovered from Norman's body and that was traced to Franks' gun, a Smith Wesson semiautomatic pistol. Brown, testifying in his own defense yesterday, admitted he fired his gun twice but said the shots flew into a wall and table. He said his gun, a TEC-9 Cobray, went off after Norman grabbed his wrists and tried to wrestle the weapon away.

"Did you shoot Norman?" asked defense attorney Renee W. Green. "No, I did not," Brown said. Brown said he ran out of the kitchen after breaking free. He said Franks, who was convicted of aggravated murder after a trial last month, fired all four shots that struck Norman.

Franks was in a hallway robbing one of the other occupants and came back to the kitchen when he heard the struggle. Prosecutor Judith Bandy scoffed at Brown's story, pointing out that it was contradicted by the other robbery victims in the apartment, who testified that they saw Brown and Franks standing together, simultaneously shooting at Norman. Bandy likened their description to a "firing squad" execution, arguing during her closing statement to the jury yesterday that Brown and Franks are "equally responsible for the death." Bandy said the witnesses' account was supported by Summit County Deputy Medical Examiner Roberto Ruiz, who testified Norman was shot on both sides of his body. Individually Controlled Air Support Sleep System rpwd lo Qukklv and Euih Adjutl to the Firmrmt Level Because the wound traced to Franks' gun was on one side and the fatal shot to the neck on the other, Bandy argued that it was Brown who killed Norman. Defense co-counsel Annette L.

Powers told jurors that wasn't necessarily so, speculating that Norman's body may have been in several contorted positions during the shooting. Powers argued that there wasn't "a speck of physical evidence" proving that Brown shot Norman or intended him to die. Bandy argued that the use of handgun during the robbery was sufficient proof. "They were full-well prepared to do anything they had to do during the robbery," Bandy told jurors. Police found an estimated $20,000 worth of cocaine and several pounds of marijuana in the apartment.

Norman, who had been convicted of drug trafficking in 1988 and 1991, was found with more than $1,000 in his pants pockets. Brown and Franks were arrested by police responding to reports of the shooting after a high speed chase. The jury deliberated about two hours yesterday and was expected to resume this morning. Because the case involves the death penalty, jurors were sequestered in a hotel overnight. If Brown is found guilty of aggravated murder with capital punishment specifications, the jury will hear evidence at a separate BEDROOMS TODAY COMFORT QUALITY 869 St.

Rt. 619 877-1244 In Hartville Super Center, Next to I.G.A. CLEANED REPAIRED SOLD APPRAISED Term, arrest pleases victim 3750 WEST MARKET AKRON 330-665-5393 sbabeera been pawned matched what was stolen from the Franklin home on Woodcrest Avenue. One of the pawners used an Ohio identification card with a color photo. 4130 BELDEN VILLAGE CANTON 330-493-9000 own oriental uGCO 90 DAYS REVOLVING CHARGE SAME AS CASH mm the helplessness when you see your grandson being threatened to be killed with a gun and you can't do anything because you're tied up.

"It's been a nightmare. I thought that day we were going to die." Franklin Township police detective Mike Korach credited the viewers of the show for providing tips about the whereabouts of the brothers, which led to their arrests. He said the Akron FBI office forwarded the tips he received from the show to the FBI in Nashville, where city police, the FBI, Secret Service agents and U.S. Marshals followed up and located the pair. They were just leaving the stadium work site when the officers spotted them.

A chase ensued, resulting in a minor accident involving the suspects' and a police car. No one was injured, Korach said. The pair, believed to have traveled to Arizona, Texas, then Tennessee over the past year, will be brought back to Akron to face the charges. Gary Noble is charged with aggravated robbery, burglary and kidnapping. Ted Noble is charged with receiving stolen property (jewelry taken from the house).

Any further role that Ted Noble may have played in the case remains under investigation, police said. The two suspects were first identified through a routine police check of pawnshops in Pittsburgh, where a list of items that had Franklin Twp. woman relieved to learn pair captured in Nashville By William Canterbury Bmcon Journal slnff umler Franklin Becky Wood was ecstatic to learn yesterday that two brothers have been arrested in connection with an incident last year in which she was threatened at gunpoint by a masked man and then tied up along with her grandson. "I had given up, thinking it was something they'd never be able to solve," Wood said after learning that Gary Lee and Ted Noble, formerly of the Akron area, were arrested Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn. Gary Noble is accused of tying up Wood and threatening her and her grandson, then 9.

Police said he and a second suspect then fled her home with a safe containing an estimated $34,000 in jewelry and cash. Ted Noble has been linked to the case after the stolen jewelry was pawned, police said, but he has not been charged with the burglary and robbery. The brothers, who had been the subjects of two broadcasts of the television show Unsolved Mysteries, one in March and a repeat earlier this month, were spotted and captured following a police chase in Nashville, where investigators said Gary Noble was working on a stadium construction project. "I'm hoping this (news of the arrests) will help me sleep at night," Wood said. "I have not been able to get out of my mind waking up in my bedroom and seeing that horrible Halloween mask and gun in my face and You never know when you or someone you love will suffer a life-threatening injury.

That's why it's important to know that Akron General is the only Trauma Center between Cleveland and Columbus, according to a recent verification by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. Being a Trauma Center means having an emergency department, surgery department, radiology department, intensive care unit and dedicated trauma team that work together to save lives and get nearly 1,000 trauma patients a year back home. Being the region's only Trauma Center Akron General is part of national research studies to improve treatment and prevent injury and has a trauma team and helipad available 24 hours a day. Isn't that what you'd expect from a hospital named "one of the top 100 in the U.S.?" Isn't that what you want from your hospital? ji ll CD AtsnrK rcKicn ai Most physicians at Akron General are independent practitioners. www.agmc.org THE WINNER OF THE 1997 FORD TRUCK DAN DEE 0TAT0 CHIPS 14 oz.

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