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LISBON -- The Seventh District Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the aggravated murder conviction of Tyrell Travers for the May 19, 2021 shooting death of Dion McMillon in East Liverpool.
A jury found the 27-year-old Wellsville man guilty of aggravated murder and murder, along with firearm specifications, after a trial in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court in May 2023, two years after the shooting.
Judge Megan Bickerton described Travers' actions as calculating and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus three years for using a firearm to take the life of McMillon, who was 26 years old when he was killed.
In the appeal, Travers was represented by Jeff Jakmides and Julie Jakmides who argued that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move for a discharge based on a violation of his speedy trial rights. During the trial, he was represented by defense attorney Walter Madison.
The appellate court ruled that a motion to discharge based on speedy trial grounds would have been denied, so the claim of ineffective counsel fails, in turn failing the appeal.
Appellate attorneys for Travers argued that a 90-day continuance granted to the state just prior to trial due to a state's witness being unavailable was not a reasonable continuance, but the appellate court ruled otherwise, saying the unavailability of a state's witness is a reasonable basis for a continuance and in this case it was due to medical leave which was out of the state's control or the control of the witness.
During the trial, video footage showed a white Kia Soul slowly entering the area on the east end of East Liverpool near First Avenue and Elmwood with the lights off, then parking, then someone getting out and later returning to the vehicle and speeding away.
Evidence showed that Travers had rented a white Kia Soul and prosecutors argued that was him. Another video from Mapletree Street showed the victim getting into his car, being alone and then flashes of light from 13 bullets fired into his car window on the passenger side, killing him as he sat in the front seat. Prosecutors argued that Travers was the shooter.
For the state, the appeal was handled by Columbiana County Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino and county Assistant Prosecutor Shelley Pratt.