The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Testimony begins in Elyria murder trial
Elyria man on trial in death of Wellington man
Kayla Ellis testified March 20 that 25-year-old Jeffrey Brooks did not have the chance to defend himself when he was beaten into unconsciousness by Nicholas D. Masley.
The statement came during the first day of testimony in Masley’s murder trial in connection to the Wellington man’s death two days after the Dec. 12, 2013, attack.
Masley, 27, of Elyria, is facing a pair of murder charges and a single count of felonious assault.
During her opening statement, Lorain County Assistant Prosecutor Donna Freeman said Masley lured Brooks to a trailer in Colonial Oaks in Elyria to allegedly smoke marijuana, but really to “beat him up” because he believed Brooks was responsible for getting Ellis addicted to heroin. Ellis is Masley’s cousin.
“He just said that to get him to come there, his intention was to beat him up,” Freeman said.
In his opening statement, defense attorney Kenneth Lieux said his client’s brother died of a heroin overdose about seven months before Masley allegedly assaulted Brooks.
Lieux said Masley and Ellis were close growing up, but when she failed to show up to his brother’s funeral, he began to suspect she was using drugs.
Lieux said his client asked Ellis and Brooks to the trailer in an effort to see if his suspicions were true.
He said Masley did not commit felonious assault on Brooks, but had simply assaulted him.
Brooks’ death was not caused by the attack, but by damage from heroin use and addiction, Lieux said.
Ellis, 24, the first witness in the case, testified she started using heroin on her own over a year before the incident that took Brooks’ life.
She said the pair had been living with Brooks’ parents in an effort to get off drugs since October 2013.
Despite detoxing from the drugs after initially moving in, the pair had begun using again and Brooks started selling drugs to finance their use, Ellis said.
On the day of the attack, Ellis said she and Brooks had been to the trailer park in an effort to sell some heroin.
The buyer was not there, so they left the area and subsequently ran into Masley and a friend on bicycles, Ellis said.
She said Masley asked her and Brooks to return to the park later to smoke marijuana with him.
Before they left the park, Masley told Ellis he was sorry, she said.
Ellis testified she did not know why.
She said she and Brooks went to Midway Mall to purchase heroin from their dealer and went to a home improvement store to use the drugs.
Ellis said the pair did not use much.
When they met with Masley at the trailer around 5 p.m. that day, Ellis testified she, Masley and several other people stood outside of the home smoking cigarettes.
She testified she was unsure what Brooks was doing.
At some point, Ellis and Brooks went into the bathroom of the house and were separating heroin that they intended to give to another party, she said.
While they were in there, Masley attempted to get inside of the bathroom, but Ellis testified she blocked the door.
After they left the bathroom and went to leave the house, Ellis said she walked out first followed by Brooks.
“I walked down the stairs, was telling Nick bye and stuff, and I just started walking up the driveway towards (Brooks’) truck,” Ellis testified. “I was ahead of him and then I heard something.
“So I turned around and that’s when I saw Jeff falling down the stairs and my cousin Nick hitting him.”
Police said Masley struck Brooks in the face as he was walking down a short staircase out of the residence, knocking him unconscious and causing him to land with his head hitting the stairs.
Masley then struck Brooks twice more in the face before fleeing the scene on his bike, detectives said.
Ellis testified she was unable to wake Brooks, so she ran to a friend’s house down the street seeking help and to call the police.
When the paramedics arrived, Brooks was awake and speaking, police said.
He was transported to University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, then called Elyria Memorial Hospital.
Ellis testified she was with him in the hospital where he fell in and out of consciousness.
Brooks died two days later after being transported to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m., March 21.
Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge James L. Miraldi is presiding over the trial.
Police said Masley struck Brooks in the face as he was walking down a short staircase out of the residence, knocking him unconscious and causing him to land with his head hitting the stairs.