James Kimbrough murder trial set for January

Lorain County prosecutors and James Kimbrough III's defense attorney continue to prepare for a murder trial set to go forward in January. Kimbrough, 35, of Lorain, appeared in Lorain County Common Pleas Court on Monday for a hearing before Judge Chris Cook. In court, Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Chris Pierre said prosecutors, police and defense attorney Mike Stepanik took a "field trip" to a location where authorities searched with metal detectors for the suspected murder weapon after learning it might have been discarded there. The weapon was not found, he said. Handwriting analysis is expected to be part of the evidence presented at trial if the case gets to that point, Pierre and Assistant Prosecutor Paul Griffin told Cook. At Monday's hearing, Stepanik asked Cook if Kimbrough could have his wallet and some other personal property back, items that were seized by police after his arrest. Pierre said he would look into it, and Cook said he would order the items returned as long as they didn't have any evidentiary value. Cook also said he would order Stepanik's clerk, a second-year law student, be allowed to visit Kimbrough at the Lorain County Jail to prepare the defense. The next pretrial hearing in the case was to be scheduled for November. A trial date is set for Jan. 16, 2024. Kimbrough allegedly shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, 24-year-old Milenna Lopez, as she sat in her car outside the McDonald's restaurant that she managed on Detroit Road in Sheffield on Jan. 6, 2022. Lopez had four children, including two with Kimbrough. The couple had a history of domestic violence between them, and Lopez had several protection orders against Kimbrough. Kimbrough fled, abandoned his car, and was a fugitive from justice for 101 days until his capture by bail bondsmen in a duplex on Shaffer Drive in Lorain on April 17, 2022. In Lopez's death, Kimbrough was charged with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, evidence tampering, weapons and other felonies in May 2022. He pleaded not guilty and has been held on bond in the Lorain County Jail ever since. Kimbrough also faces felony kidnapping, aggravated burglary and burglary charges, misdemeanor domestic violence, endangering children and criminal damaging charges in two other cases that will be tried at the same time, cases that involve Lopez as a victim prior to her killing. He has pleaded not guilty to all of those charges. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.