Jury finds Desean Williamson guilty of 2021 murder of Gage Zirke

Jurors found Desean Williamson, 25 of Akron, guilty Friday of killing 20-year-old Gage Zirke in Akron's Kenmore neighborhood three years ago.

Williamson was found guilty of murder, felony murder and felonious assault. Each of those charges initially included a gun specification, which could have resulted in additional prison time. But after some conflicting testimonies from witnesses, jurors found the state did not prove he committed the crime with a firearm.

The decision comes after a nearly four-day trial and roughly four hours of deliberations. Jurors had heard from eyewitnesses, including two present for the shooting, who provided similar but sometimes competing stories of the deadly shooting.

Trial begins: Desean Williamson murder trial begins: Witnesses describe moments before, after shooting

Both the prosecution and the defense laid out closing arguments Friday before jurors broke for deliberations.

"We know who the defendant is at this point. We talked all week about what happened on the 25th of July," Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Chris Delisio said Friday.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Towell will sentence Williamson on Monday at 8:30 a.m. He faces life in prison.

Prosecutors argue Desean Williamson pulled the trigger

Zirke was shot to death in the front seat of his vehicle and crashed into a tree near the 2300 block of 11th Street in Akron on July 25, 2021. He was pronounced dead at about 7 p.m.

Although testimony varied and sometimes conflicted from different witnesses, each witness recalled shots being fired and a red Toyota Camry being present, Delisio said.

Two witnesses who knew Williamson testified that he was at the scene during the shooting, Delisio said. One recalled Williamson standing outside with a gun in his hand just after hearing shots fired.

Conflicting details: Witnesses provide conflicting details about shooting in Desean Williamson murder trial

"Palm prints place Desean Williamson in the (Toyota Camry)," he said. Cellphone towers placed him in the area.

Investigators recovered 10 shell casings along 11th Street. Each was fired from the same firearm, Delisio said.

"That's not an accident," he said Friday. "That is a mission. Whether in anger or in the coldest of blood, it was an action meant to take another man's life."

Defense hoped to sow doubt on prosecution's case

Attorney John Greven, representing Williamson alongside attorney Kerry O'Brien, did not deny that his client was on 11th Street on July 25, 2021, but he did question the credibility of the state's witnesses.

"You heard so much different testimony," Greven told the jury in his closing statement. "Their testimony was so dissimilar. There were more dissimilarities than similarities."

He said at least one of the four main witnesses had questionable motives for taking the stand.

Teion Thompson, a co-defendant in the case, accepted a plea deal with prosecutors. In exchange for pleading guilty to obstructing justice and his testimony during the trial, prosecutors dismissed multiple counts including murder, a charge that carries a life sentence if found guilty.

Thompson testified that a man he described as white left a house with Williamson in Kenmore. When the shooting ended, he said Williamson jumped back in the red Toyota Camry and drove off.

This conflicted with another witness , Melvin Griffin, who said Williamson left the house fighting with a man he described as Black. After the shooting, he testified that Williamson climbed into a different vehicle and left the scene while Thompson drove the Toyota Camry.

But both of these stories conflicted with two bystanders who saw parts of the incident, Greven said. Timothy Griffith and Brian Jankowski recalled seeing two men running from the scene and no one entering or leaving the house.

"These stories are just so dissimilar," Greven told jurors. "Are you really, firmly convinced?"

Prosecutors defend their witnesses, focus on evidence

Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Seema Misra told jurors that she could not pick her witnesses. Plus, the shooting happened three years ago.

"Memories fade," she said. Details blur and change over time.

Despite this, Misra said evidence matched testimonies provided throughout the trial.

Jankowski described the shooter as a tall, thin man with shoulder-length "scraggly" hair. That description, she told jurors, matches a photo of Williamson taken 20 days before the deadly shooting.

Misra said testimony, including Melvin's statements, proved there was a red Toyota Camry and Thompson was the getaway driver.

Williamson's motive for the shooting, she said, was to get revenge on Zirke for stolen speakers. Backing this up, Misra explained, is a police report about stolen speakers, text messages between Zirke and two other people and testimony that speakers were the center of the fight.

"I submit that when you pull out a gun and pull that trigger not once but ten times, it is your purpose and intent to harm someone," she said.

Bryce Buyakie covers courts and public safety for the Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at bbuyakie@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @bryce_buyakie.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jury finds Desean Williamson guilty of 2021 murder of Gage Zirke