By Mark Gillispie
Associated Press
CLEVELAND — A 21-year-old man could face the death penalty after being convicted Friday of walking into a barbershop outside of Cleveland last year and opening fire with guns from both hands, killing three people and wounding three others in what prosecutors said was a gang-related dispute.
The jury deliberated just over a day before finding Douglas Shine Jr. guilty of aggravated murder and dozens of other charges related to the February 2015 shooting at Chalk Linez barbershop in Warrensville Heights and his role in killing an eyewitness two months later. Starting Nov. 16, the same jury will hear evidence to decide whether to recommend to a judge that Shine be sentenced to death.
Shine’s attorneys declined to comment after the verdict. Shine stood expressionless for the 90 minutes it took Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg to read the verdict forms after jurors found him guilty of 44 of the 49 counts in an indictment.
During a trial that spanned more than two months, prosecutors and witnesses recounted for jurors a story of revenge and cold-blooded violence wrought by Shine and others.
Prosecutors said Shine went to Chalk Linez to kill 23-year-old Walter Lee Barfield, a rival gang member who worked at the shop, shooting him 19 times while also killing 32-year-old owner William Gonzalez and 31-year-old Brandon White, a customer who went to the shop every Thursday for a haircut and to play video games. Two men and a woman were also struck and wounded that night.
Shine’s mission to kill Barfield was rooted in a feud between the Heartless Felons, Shine’s gang, and a rival gang called Loyal Always, prosecutors said. Shine tried to kill Barfield weeks before the Chalk Linez slaying after Barfield stole a gun from another Heartless felon, prosecutors said.
The Chalk Linez killings spawned the fatal shooting of an eyewitness to the slayings. The jury convicted Shine of aggravated murder for conspiring with his brother from jail to kill Aaron Ladson, the brother of Brandon White. Prosecutors said it was Ladson who identified Shine as the Chalk Linez killer. Shine’s brother, 30-year-old Kevin McKinney, is awaiting trial on aggravated murder charges in the April 2015 slaying of Ladson.
Three jurors were dismissed and replaced by alternates during the trial, including a woman who told authorities that a member of Shine’s family approached her daughter outside a school to talk about the case. Shine’s 37-year-old aunt has been charged with obstruction of justice.