The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
TRIAL UNDERWAY
Prosecution: Sargi would do anything — even kill — for more drugs Defense: Constant pain, shouts from dealer pushed Sargi to fire
Concord Twp. man on trial in double homicide
Opening arguments were heard Sept. 20 in the trial of a man accused of killing two people in a January 2020 Concord Township shooting.
Blake E. Sargi, 28, is standing trial in Lake County Common Pleas Court on several charges stemming from the deaths of Euclid couple Heavenly Goddess Murphy-Jackson, 38, and William Larondez Jackson Jr., 39.
Sargi is facing four counts of aggravated murder and four counts of murder. All eight of those charges are unclassified felonies. Sargi is also facing four counts
of first-degree felony aggravated robbery, four counts of second-degree felony robbery, and two counts of fourth-degree felony aggravated drug trafficking. All counts but the drug trafficking charges carry firearm specifications that carry three-year mandatory prison terms if he is found guilty.
Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Jenny Azouri called the shooting a “setup” during her opening argument.
“The defendant, out of money, addicted to pain pills — desperate for pain pills that he ran out of on that date — and having run out of all options, decided he would steal for them if he had to,” she said. “He would rob for them if he had to and he would kill for them if he had to.
“So at about 9:50 p.m., on the evening of Jan. 4, 2020, after he grabbed his gun, and left his home on
Oakridge Drive, and after he got into William and Heavenly’s car on Andrea Drive, that’s exactly what he did.”
Azouri accused Sargi of a “repeated pattern of deceit and manipulation” in order to obtain pain pills every month. She said that the grandfather had agreed to pay for Sargi’s pain management doctor and medications on the condition that Sargi sent him proof of the cost of the medications. The agreed upon proof was photos of the prescription bags. Once receiving photos, the grandfather would transfer money into a prepaid debit card account to be used by Sargi.
“Between October of 2019 and Jan. 4, 2020, (the grandfather) transferred $34,000 to the defendant,” Azouri said.
Azouri alleged that Sargi would also deceive pharmacists in Lake and Geauga counties.
“After having pharmacists physically fill the prescriptions and putting them into the bags and preparing them for pickup, the defendant would go to the pharmacies, take his photographs and send them to his grandfather,” she said.
“Now, he repeatedly represented to pharmacists that he didn’t have the funds to pay for those prescriptions, all except the oxycodone and Adderall prescriptions. The defendant then took that money and purchased at those same pharmacies Visa prepaid gift cards.”
Azouri alleged that Sargi purchased 71 Visa gift cards between October 2019 and Jan. 4, 2020 from Walgreens and CVS stores. Through a scheme, the gift cards were eventually converted into cash and that cash would be used to pay for pills from Jackson Jr. Azouri alleged that Sargi was not permitted to withdraw cash from the debit account or he would be cut off. Azouri also alleged that Sargi would sell pills as well.
The assistant prosecutor said Sargi’s system “worked without a snag” until the day of the shooting. On that day, Sargi visited a CVS in Geauga County, took two photos to send to his grandfather and received about $1,900 in the debit account to pay for the prescriptions. Sargi then allegedly purchased four $480 Visa gift cards.
“It’s at this point ladies and gentlemen around 6 p.m. Jan. 4, this well-oiled machine the defendant had put into place came to a screeching halt,” Azouri told the jury.
Sargi’s PayPal account was frozen and the gift cards could not be converted into cash, Azouri alleged. She alleged that a desperate Sargi arranged a deal with Jackson Jr. to purchase 1,000 pills.
“The defense will argue that the defendant had no choice that night but to use self-defense,” Azouri argued. “However, the evidence will show you the defendant felt he had no choice. He was out of options before he even stepped foot into the Jackson’s car. The evidence will show you the defendant was at fault in creating the situation that led to the Jacksons’ deaths.”
According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, dispatchers were called by Sargi’s stepmother shortly after 11 p.m.
She told dispatchers her stepson shot and killed two people. She said the victims were in a white vehicle parked on Andrea Drive in Concord Township.
Deputies were dispatched to the scene. Lake County Sheriff Frank Leonbruno previously said that due to the nature of the call and threat of armed violence, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team was dispatched.
When deputies arrived in the 7500 block of Andrea Drive they found the two victims inside of a 2019 White GMC Yukon. Leonbruno said both appeared to have been shot in the head and were dead. They were in the front driver’s side and front passenger seat of the vehicle.
Deputies secured that scene; detectives and the Lake County coroner were called. Other deputies responded to the Oakridge Drive home where Sargi lives with his mother. Leonbruno said the father came out of the home and told authorities the mother was trying to convince Sargi to come out of the house and she feared what would happen to him. After a SWAT negotiation, Sargi gave himself up to authorities and was arrested.
Defense attorney Angelo F. Lonardo said in his opening argument that Sargi suffers from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
“The pain is extraordinary.” Lonardo said. “It’s also called the suicide disease because people just can’t take it anymore…”
Sargi was receiving opioid-based pain medication from doctors.
“That was to help suppress the pain, but it doesn’t really, it just kind of tricks your brain into believing that the pain has gone away, but it stays with him. The more opioids you take — doctors are prescribing him Vicodin, Percocet, OxyContin — to deal with this pain. The pain persists. And the whole thing about OxyContin and opioid-based medication is that you build up a tolerance to it.”
Lonardo said that doctors finally got to the point they were prescribing the most they could by law. Lonardo said that Sargi would go through those pills “in short order because the pain was relentless.”
“He would deal with people on the street so he could get backup medication, so he could always have enough pills to get through the month,” Lonardo argued.
“Because once he went through his prescribed medication…he would have withdrawal and those symptoms were independent of the incredible pain he also had from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.”
Sargi had allegedly been buying drugs from Jackson Jr. in the months leading up to the shooting.
Lonardo alleged that Jackson Jr. was in a desperate situation on the night of the shooting. He alleged that Jackson Jr. owed money to people in Detroit.
“They kept calling him ‘when are you coming,’ they’re texting him ‘when are you leaving and how much money are you bringing with you?’” Lonardo alleged.
When Jackson Jr. and Sargi met up in Concord Township, Murphy-Jackson was in the front passenger seat of the car and had a gun on her lap. Lonardo said it was unusual for her to be present when Sargi and Jackson Jr. met.
Lonardo alleged that Jackson Jr. did not have pills, but they were refusing to leave without Sargi’s money. They said they were taking Sargi to Detroit with them. Lonardo alleged that Jackson Jr. ultimately told Murphy-Jackson to shoot Sargi.
“(Sargi) needed William, he needed his drugs” Lonardo argued. “The last person in the world he wants to shoot is the source of his pain relief. But when confronted with these people screaming and yelling at him, seeing this (gun) in her lap, seeing him reach when he says ‘shoot this (expletive), (Sargi) fired and fired and fired.”
Sargi’s trial is being presided over by Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Pat Condon.