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LISBON -- Columbiana County Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone wrote that new evidence will require separate aggravated murder trials for Elvin EJ Tisdale and Allen Tisdale for the 2021 shooting death of Brycen Douglas.
On Monday, he filed a new response to the severance motion filed by the defense attorneys for Elvin EJ Tisdale, revealing that since the last response filed on Nov. 29 in which the state opposed separating the trials, the state has come into possession of new evidence that by law would require the trials of the two Tisdales to be severed or separated.
No ruling has been made on the motion to separate the cases.
A jury trial for both Tisdales remains set for 9 a.m. Jan. 14, with a motions hearing set for 2 p.m. Jan. 6 before county Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton.
Paul Conn and Coleen Hall Dailey, the defense team for Elvin EJ Tisdale, filed the motion for severance on Nov. 17, claiming their client's right to a fair trial will be violated if there is one trial for both he and the co-defendant Allen Tisdale. The motion also said it's likely the co-defendant will present an antagonistic defense and testimony of Elvin EJ Tisdale and that of Allen Tisdale will be in conflict with respect to the question of EJ's criminal knowledge.
Allen Tisdale's defense attorneys Charley Kidder and T. Robert Bricker have not filed a motion for severance. A motion to suppress phone evidence in the case against Allen was filed, but no decision has been made regarding the motion to suppress.
Multiple motions to suppress in the case against EJ have been overruled.
Elvin EJ Tisdale, 34, Newell, W.Va., and Allen N. Tisdale, 24, Lisbon, were each charged with aggravated murder, murder and firearm specifications for allegedly killing Brycen Douglas, 20, who was found shot to death on the front porch of a Pennsylvania Avenue home in East Liverpool on July 15, 2021.
Elvin EJ Tisdale is also facing an additional charge of having weapons while under disability, due to being prohibited from having or using a gun due to a previous felony conviction.
Both Tisdales remain incarcerated in the Columbiana County Jail under $1 million cash or surety bonds.