Recordpub.com - Accomplice testifies against Oliver: Fetty, who pleaded guilty to charges, takes stand at murder trial

By Dave O’Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

Jodi Fetty didn’t want to be part of Cortez Oliver’s plan to break into Richard Lowther’s Rootstown home, she testified Friday in Portage County Common Pleas Court in Ravenna.

Still, the 28-year-old, 4-foot-11-inch tall Ravenna woman was the distraction that allegedly allowed Oliver to carry out a July 2, 2009, robbery prosecutors say led to Lowther’s death four weeks later.

Fetty pleaded guilty Dec. 18 to complicity to murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary. Questioned Friday by Assistant Portage County Prosecutor Eugene Muldowney, she recounted the events of July 1-2, 2009, leading up to the early-morning incident at Lowther’s Tallmadge Road home.

Fetty and Darrell Dukes, a Ravennan whom she said provided her free ecstasy, marijuana and crack cocaine, had been dating for about six months, she recalled. Late on July 1, Darrell Dukes picked her up near her house, “made a couple sales of crack cocaine” in Ravenna Township and went to meet his cousin, Jonathan Dukes.

That’s when Oliver, a friend of Jonathan Dukes, presented his burglary plot, Fetty testified.

“He was giving details that he wanted these guns out of (Lowther’s) house, a small safe he stated was not bolted to the floor or wall so it would be easy for him to get,” she said.

Darrell Dukes agreed to drive his cousin and Oliver to Rootstown, where Oliver and Jonathan Dukes cased Lowther’s house, which Fetty said Oliver told her would be empty.

The plan changed to include Fetty, she said, when Oliver discovered Lowther was at home. Fetty was given the task of distracting Lowther by faking car trouble and asking to use his phone while Oliver, clad in dark clothing and boots, would sneak into the house and grab the safe.

Fetty said violence was not part of the plan, but Oliver said he would “debow” Lowther if he got in the way, she said.

“You thought you could lift a man’s safe out of his house without him knowing or doing anything about it? Did you think Mr. Lowther was going to hand you the safe?” Muldowney asked.

“I know. There’s no logic to it, but I didn’t see it like that,” Fetty said. Asked what she thought Oliver meant, Fetty said she thought Oliver would “restrain” Lowther with his arm, making a motion with her elbow to punctuate the word.

After distracting Lowther and using his phone, Fetty testified she heard a “thud” from the enclosed porch where Lowther had gone to see why his dog was barking. She told Muldowney she believed Oliver had “debowed” Lowther as he said he would.

Fetty and Oliver fled, with Oliver carrying a box of coins and plastic coin holders, some of which dropped as he ran, she said. Back in the car, Fetty asked Oliver if he hurt Lowther.

Oliver “smiled and said, ‘Oh, no. I just debowed him,’” she testified.

After picking up Jonathan Dukes — who acted as a lookout before being attacked by Lowther’s neighbor, James Oaks — the four drove back to Ravenna. There, Darrell Dukes and Oliver dumped Lowther’s quarters into a purple Crown Royal Canadian whiskey bag. After selling more drugs, Darrell Dukes started to drive Fetty home when Oliver convinced them to stop at the Ravenna Giant Eagle on East Main Street and exchange the stolen quarters for cash.

It was there, Ravenna police Detective Scott Krieger testified Friday, that he observed Fetty entering the store with the Crown Royal bag. Working an off-duty security shift at the front of the store, Krieger said he directed Fetty to the Coinstar machine, then called sheriff’s deputies to ask what kind of coins were stolen.

Deputy Kevin Nicolino testified Thursday he told Krieger the suspects had taken quarters. Krieger had the cashier write down Fetty’s driver’s license number on the Coinstar receipt when she bought cigarettes and confronted Fetty once Ravenna patrolman Jason Burrell arrived as backup.

Fetty and Krieger testified Fetty said she had gotten the quarters from her grandfather to use for gas money to go to Pennsylvania and returned to Darrell Dukes’ car. Burrell testified Friday he did a traffic stop on the car and detained Fetty until sheriff’s deputies arrived.

Oliver, who had fled when Burrell first arrived, turned himself in at the Portage County Justice Center two hours later, sheriff’s Detective James Acklin testified Thursday. Oliver had left his keys in the back seat of Dukes’ car, Acklin said.

Fetty, currently held in the Portage County jail pending sentencing, testified she has not received any promises or special favors from the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office for pleading guilty to all the charges against her.

Muldowney asked Fetty why she agreed to the robbery plan.

“I ask myself that question every day,” she responded. “The pressure was on and I caved.”

Testimony resumes at 1 p.m. Monday.