YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge today agreed with a prosecution request to deny bond to a brother and sister who are the main defendants in a December homicide on the West Side.

Judge John Durkin said after a hearing that part of the reason for his decision was that testimony from the lead investigator in the case showed that the gun that killed Joseph Addison, 42, was an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

The judge also said one of the reasons he was denying bond for C’Mone Thomas, 22, who along with her brother Marquez Thomas, 25, is charged with aggravated murder and three counts of attempted murder, was an Instagram post she made while she was on the run where she posed with a handgun and Monopoly money with a caption that said “Wanted Fugitive.”

Both Thomases are accused of a Dec. 27 shooting at a Tyrell Avenue apartment complex that killed Addison and wounded three others. Marquez Thomas was taken into custody a couple of days after the crime but C’Mone Thomas was not in custody until she turned herself in April 27.

On Feb. 25, Judge Durkin reduced the $800,000 bond of Marquez Thomas that he received after his arraignment in municipal court to $150,000 after his attorney, Lynn Maro, asked for a bond modification under the guidelines in the state Supreme Court’s Dubose decision on bond in January, which said defendants can not be held awaiting trial on excessive bond.

Prosecutors filed a motion April 29 under a provision in the Ohio Revised Code that allows defendants to be held without bond if a court can determine a defendant will be a danger to the community if they are free and that no reasonable conditions if a defendant is granted bond can ensure public safety.

The lead investigator on the case, Detective Sgt. Jerry Fulmer, testified under direct examination by Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta that the entire shooting that killed Addison is captured on video.

Fulmer said C’Mone Thomas can also be seen on video carrying an AR-15 into her apartment and her brother can be seen carrying the rifle out of the apartment. Fulmer testified that investigators found 19 .223-caliber casings, ammunition which is commonly used in AR-15s.

Also under direct examination, Fulmer testified that bullets from rifles like AR-15s are dangerous because they can penetrate walls and windows and still have enough velocity to strike another person and hurt them.

Under cross examination by Maro, Fulmer said it was possible the other three people who were wounded could have been injured in a shooting about a half hour before Addison was killed. Under cross examination by Tony Meranto, the lawyer for C’Mone Thomas, Fulmer said there is no video showing her firing a weapon.

Brevetta said the siblings should be held without bond because a dangerous weapon was used in an apartment complex with a lot of people around and that C’Mone Thomas waited four months to turn herself in. He said the evidence is “clear and compellin” that Marquez Thomas was the shooter that early morning.

“I don’t know if I can have a better case as a prosecutor than a homicide on video,” Brevetta said.

Maro said basing a decision off the video would be wrong because it is grainy and it is hard to see who is doing the shooting. She also said that Brevetta offered no evidence that her client would not show up for future court proceedings, which is another things prosecutors have to prove to deny someone bond.

Meranto reiterated that Fulmer testified his client was never seen firing a weapon,

Judge Durkin said the fact that a rifle was used in an apartment complex where several people live and that the crime is on video proves that the prosecution has a good case and that no conditions can ensure that the public’s safety can be guaranteed.

The supreme court decision in the Dubose stemmed from a suspect in a 2020 Hamilton County murder, Justin Dubose, 26, who appealed his $1.5 million bond, calling it unreasonable and unconstitutional. The Su[preme Court upheld a First District Court Of Appeals ruling that reduced the suspect’s bond from $1.5 million to $500,000.

The panel pointed to a clause in the state’s criminal code that said judges should use the least restrictive conditions to make sure a defendant appears at future hearings in court.

Dubose had claimed that the bond was unconstitutional because he had limited resources, had no prior felony criminal record and also had ties to the community.