Plea agreement reached in I-70 fatal shooting

Friday, September 2, 2016
Markus S. Yeanay

The perplexing shooting death of one Ohio man by the hand of another as they rode together in the backseat of a minivan along Interstate 70 back in May will be resolved by a plea agreement.

Appearing in Putnam Superior Court Wednesday afternoon, Markus S. Yeanay, 18, Columbus, entered a guilty plea to a Level 3 felony charge of aggravated battery causing death in the fatal May 8 shooting of his 33-year-old uncle, Mario Edwards, also of Columbus.

The Level 3 felony carries a sentencing range of 3-16 years in prison with an advisory sentence of nine years (such convicted felons must serve 75 percent of their sentence now under Indiana law).

Yeanay originally had been charged with voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony; possession of cocaine, a Level 6 felony; and carrying a handgun without a license, a Class A misdemeanor.

Those charges are all being dismissed via the plea agreement reached with the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office.

Had Yeanay been convicted for voluntary manslaughter in the speedy trial that had been set for Oct. 3, he could have been sentenced to 10-30 years in prison with 17-1/2 years the advisory sentence.

However, the reliability of witnesses to the shooting was apparently deteriorating, Putnam County Prosecutor Timothy Bookwalter said.

"We had one witness changing his story," the prosecutor said of the driver, Stefon R. Woods, 21, also of Columbus, who is in the Putnam County Jail facing charges of aiding a criminal and possession of cocaine.

Meanwhile, the other witness -- the victim's mother, front-seat passenger Brenda Knight -- has suddenly gone off the grid and apparently can't be reached via conventional means.

"She went back to Columbus," Bookwalter said, "and all of her phones have been disconnected."

So the likelihood of Knight being located in time to testify in another month seemed doubtful, leaving the prosecutor's office to initiate a new charge of aggravated battery causing death and get the teenage suspect to agree to that.

In court Wednesday, that came quite simply as Bookwalter asked the defendant, "You are admitting you're guilty of the Level 3 felony aggravated battery causing death?"

"Yes, sir," Yeanay said loudly and politely in extreme contrast to how he reacted to news of his charges and $100,000 cash bond at his initial hearing when officers had to remove him from the courtroom and he could still be heard screaming and wailing while being taken from building.

The random nature of the whole incident is punctuated by the fact no Putnam County or Indiana resident was directly involved.

"It was just by sheer accident that this happened to be in Putnam County," Prosecutor Bookwalter told the Banner Graphic, indicating there had been some discussion that the shooting might actually have taken place in Morgan County but Edwards died en route or upon arrival at Putnam County Hospital after the vehicle exited the interstate at Cloverdale.

The whole scenario was just a rolling recipe for disaster, Bookwalter suggested.

"The evidence shows a microcosm of urban life today manifesting itself in a mobile situation of a car traveling from Columbus to St. Louis with a combination of cocaine and alcohol, beer and Crown Royal, marijuana, pills and a handgun."

And that wasn't even all that was mixed up in the case, Bookwalter said.

"The victim was highly intoxicated," the prosecutor added. "There were allegations of gang affiliation. You've got some sort of a fight going on the entire trip. He (Yeanay) was claiming self-defense, and apparently the nephew decided to solve things the only way he knew how."

With a handgun he pulled from beneath the seat producing a fatal result.

"I guess that's a reasonable resolution to excessive force," Bookwalter said, "when you're bringing a gun to a fistfight."

Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges accepted the plea agreement, ordering a presentence investigation to be completed prior to a 2 p.m. sentencing hearing on Oct. 3.

The case hit the fast track after Joel Wieneke, Yeanay's court-appointed public defender, filed a July 29 request for a speedy trial, which had been set for Oct. 3 prior to Wednesday's turn of events.

According to court documents, disrespect has emerged as the motive behind the fatal shooting with Yeanay allegedly becoming so infuriated by arguing and fighting with his uncle that he believed he had no recourse but to shoot him.

The driver, Woods, told investigators the two men had been "punching and yelling at each other" off and on from the time the group had left Ohio earlier that day.

At one point during the alleged argument, Yeanay reportedly told Edwards "he would kill him," court records state.

However, the fighting and arguing seemed to subside until the 2016 Kia Sedona reached the outskirts of Cloverdale at about 10 p.m. May 8.

Woods said it was then that he heard three gunshots and realized Edwards had been shot.

During his infamous courtroom outburst last May, Yeanay hollered about fighting for his life. However, there is no indication in the police report or probable cause affidavit that the victim had any kind of weapon.

Edwards was struck by two bullets, while another round shattered a rear window of the vehicle.

Yeanay reportedly then tossed the gun out through the broken glass. The gun has never been recovered.

The altercation, the shooting suspect said, was both verbal and physical and reached a point where he "could no longer take Mario Edwards hitting him," and pulled a gun out from beneath the rear seat and fired at his uncle from across the backseat.

After that fatal decision, the drama made its way to Putnam County Hospital with Edwards and his mother being dropped off at the emergency room entrance and Woods driving away with Yeanay in the rental car.

Edwards succumbed to his wounds a short time later, while Woods and Yeanay were arrested at about 2 a.m. in the Greencastle Walmart store parking lot.

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