AKRON, Ohio — A Summit County jury was unable to reach verdicts on most of the charges against the two men charged in the 2023 killing of Marquise Banks along I-77 in Green.
The jury did return a verdict on one count, finding Sirvonte Suggs guilty of having weapons under disability.
Banks's aunt, Antoinette Jones, shed tears after the courtroom developments, stressing the family still has no closure.
"I'm more hurt for his mother because she's going through so much and she's been so strong and just deal with the fact that she still has not got no justice," Jones said.
With the jury hung on nine other charges, including aggravated murder, prosecutors must now decide if they will retry Suggs and Ahmere Williams.
A hearing is scheduled for March 11.
"This is something we'll go back to the office, we'll speak with the family, and we'll make a decision related to whether it's tried again or not," said Brad Gessner, chief of counsel for the Summit County Prosecutor's Office.
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The jury deliberated for 12 hours over the course of three days before Judge Kelly McLaughlin announced the guilty verdict on the single weapons charges. She then dismissed the jury.
The jurors indicated they were hung on all of the other counts.
"The court accepts this conclusion and finds there is no probability of the jury agreeing," McLaughlin said.
Jeff Leybourne, one of the attorneys for Williams, said a hung jury is not common.
"It's certainly not as common as a conviction or an acquittal," Leybourne said. "I think on a difficult case like this with so much as stake, it becomes more common."
What happened
On Aug. 3, 2023, a passenger of a pickup truck fired multiple rounds into a black SUV, killing 23-year-old Marquise Banks along I-77 South in Green.
RELATED: SUV driver shot, killed by passenger in pickup truck on I-77 Thursday evening
Banks was hit by multiple bullets multiple, causing him to drive across the median and into the northbound lanes.
Video from the Ohio Department of Transportation showed the SUV striking a Mercedes going north and the pickup truck fleeing the scene. The woman in the Mercedes suffered suffered bumps and bruises to her arm.
Banks was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Suggs and Williams faced multiple charges, including aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault in connection with the death of Banks.
Prosecutors said the murder was gang-related and in retaliation for another murder that happened in July of 2023.
The prosecution told the jury that Suggs pulled the trigger and Williams helped plan the murder of Banks.
However, attorneys for Williams believe the wrong men were on trial for the murder and said the prosecution's case was based on fear over facts.
"I think the big difficulty was the investigation lacked completeness and there were too many alternative suspects to convict," said Noah Munyer, another attorney for Williams.
Suggs and Williams will remain in jail until the March hearing.
