DAYTON — A jury has reached a verdict in the case of the second man accused of firing shots that killed a 12-year-old girl while she was sleeping.
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Javen Conner’s trial wrapped up late Friday morning. A Montgomery County jury reached and announced its verdict just hours later.
The jury found Conner guilty of all of the counts he was facing, including murder and felonious assault.
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This came 10 days after a jury found Conner’s co-defendant and brother, Antawan Benson, guilty in the case as well.
Prosecutors said Conner and Benson fired 37 shots on W. Fairview Avenue in August 2024. At least one of those bullets hit Isabella Carlos while she was asleep in her bed.
The brothers were shooting at a duplex where a woman who had a social media beef with their friend lived, but some of their shots went into Carols’ home, killing her.
“Bella isn’t here to speak for herself. She isn’t here to tell us what happened to her. She isn’t here to tell us who shot her,” Kelly Madzey, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, said.
As shown on News Center 7 at 5:00, prosecutors urged the jury to convict Conner. His lawyer stressed that he didn’t have a motive in this case and told jurors that prosecutors didn’t have evidence he was even at the scene of the crime.
“I don’t see a whole lot against Javen, not for the murder scene, not for the shooting scene, so make sure you hold the state to their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” Jeff Gramza, Conner’s defense attorney, said.
Jurors who sat through a week-long trial took only a couple of hours to decide that Conner should be held responsible.
Conner is expected to appear in court in the coming weeks for his sentencing.
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