ALLEN COUNTY, OH (WLIO) - The trial of a Lima teen facing charges from a 2020 murder, began today in Allen County Common Pleas Court.
18-year-old Ja'naz Smith is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and tampering with evidence for the death of Danielle Jackson. Jackson was found shot in the parking lot of a bar on the west side of Lima in January of 2020.
During opening statements, prosecutors laid out their case and told the jury that they will hear from police interviews, that Smith admitted to shooting Jackson.
"And in that interview, you're going to hear the defendant say that Ian's friend Jordan Daniel tried to rob Danielle Jackson as he stood out waiting for that ride home," said Mariah Cunningham, Allen County assistant prosecutor. "You're going to hear the defendant say that he and Jordan Daniel shot Jackson."
Jurors also got a sense of what happened that night from security footage from inside the bar and from the person that found Jackson in that parking lot.
"I asked him you know what happened, if there was anything that he could tell me what happened. He stated there was a couple of guys that asked him if he had any money, he told them no, and then they shot him," stated Ronald Jones, who found Jackson in the parking lot after the shooting.
Law enforcement who first responded also took the stand today, the trial will resume Tuesday.
