James Stewart murder trial sent to jury, deliberations to continue after holiday

ELYRIA — The fate of a Brunswick man who shot and killed an Olmsted Falls man at Joker's Pub and Grub in Columbia Township last year is in the hands of a jury. The nine women and three men who will decide whether 42-year-old James A. Stewart Jr. is guilty of murder and other charges were handed the case at 3 p.m. Friday by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Chris Cook. The jury heard nearly two full weeks of testimony about the shooting death of Jason Kleinman, 49, on May 10, 2024. Kleinman was struck once in the head by a bullet from Stewart's handgun. Stewart claimed he was defending his brother from an assault when he shot and killed Kleinman. Jurors deliberated for two hours Friday before deciding to go home for the weekend. They will return Tuesday morning to deliberate further, as the Justice Center is closed Monday in observance of Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day. Stewart is charged with three counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and one count of illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor permit premises, all felonies, plus one misdemeanor charge of using weapons while intoxicated. He pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense or defense of others, and has been free on bond. Each of the murder charges alleges the killing happened through a different course of action or conduct. James Stewart admitted shooting and killing Kleinman, but testified he only did so because Kleinman was attacking his brother, Mark Stewart. The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office alleged James Stewart took offense to Kleinman and Wade harassing his brother about using a racial slur Mark Stewart never said. James Stewart left the bar, retrieved his 9 mm handgun and made his own threats, prosecutors said. James Stewart threw five punches at Wade. The two men separated, which is when Kleinman allegedly attacked Mark Stewart. James Stewart then shot Kleinman once in the arm and once in the head, killing him. It's up to the jury to view all the evidence and decide exactly what happened, Cook said this week. Prosecution closing argument It was up to prosecutors to convince jurors that James Stewart didn't act in self-defense or defense of his brother. Assistant Prosecutor Daniellela Leigh closed out the state's case by telling jurors James Stewart made a deliberate choice to kill. After 12 to 15 alcoholic drinks in eight hours the days of the shooting, James Stewart was angry, disrespected and looking for a fight, she said. It was Kleinman who paid the price, Leigh said. "This was not defending another," she told the jury. It was "fear, rage, purpose and murder" that escalated from a "brief, tense moment" to a fatal shooting, Leigh said. The Stewarts were drunk and out of control, while sober, independent, unbiased witnesses, including other patrons and bar staff backed up, Wade's account that he didn't fight back as James Stewart swung on him five times, she said. James Stewart gave an inaccurate account of what he did to sheriff's Detective Matt Lawson, and struggled to answer Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre's questions when cross-examined about what happened that night, Leigh said. James Stewart's testimony was self-serving, his shooting of Kleinman an example of unreasonable excessive force given that only punches had been thrown so far, she said. He lost the right to be inside Joker's after retrieving a handgun from his truck, Leigh said. "When it suits him, (James Stewart) will say whatever he needs to," Leigh said. Mark Stewart also only remembered details that helped his brother's case, while conveniently forgetting details that might have harmed James Stewart's defense, Leigh said. Defense closing argument Kleinman's death was "awful," defense attorney Michael Stepanik said in his closing argument, and nothing will bring the motorcyle-loving powerlifter and father of six back to life. But "we're here to determine if James Stewart was allowed to do what he did," if the law says he could, "and it does," he said. Stepanik encouraged jurors to not get caught up in the "revisionist history" being given to them by prosecutors and state witnesses. Stepanik and co-counsel Amanda Tilton argued the witnesses told the jury different stories than they told law enforcement the night of the killing after being shown video footage from inside Joker's. That footage showed Kleinman beating Mark Stewart's head in, Stepanik said. The bar had a capacity crowd that night, but only five or so bar patrons and staff members ended up testifying — and then only after prosecutors helped them prepare their testimony, Stepanik told the jury. No one admitted encouraging Kleinman to "f--- 'em up!" as he hit Mark Stewart in the head about five times before the fatal shots were fired. Only James Stewart admitted having a gun in the bar, and Stepanik questioned why an unidentified male voice yelled "shoot his a--!" after the gunfire if his client was the only carrying a gun that night. Stepanik told jurors it's OK to dislike James Stewart for using racial slurs in text messages to his friends, but said it's ultimately irrelevant to the case. "Nobody likes what happened in this case. ... This whole incident sucked ... but does the law permit (James Stewart) to do what he did? It does," Stepanik said. In rebuttal, Pierre told jurors the mixture of alcohol and firearms made James Stewart "dumb, drunk, dangerous and deadly" in Joker's. "Drunken fistfights in bars shouldn't end with someone being shot in the head," Pierre said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.