Eyewitness, police testify in 2024 Columbia Twp. fatal bar shooting trial

ELYRIA — A patron of Joker's Pub and Grub in Columbia Township testified Tuesday in court that he didn't see anything wrong at the bar on a busy Friday night in 2024 until a man was shot and killed right before his eyes. Andre Thompson described to a Lorain County Common Pleas Court jury how the May 10, 2024, incident went from a sudden fistfight to a fatal, one-sided gunbattle. Not in dispute is that James Stewart, 42, of Brunswick, shot and killed Jason Kleinman, 49, of Olmsted Falls, as Kleinman hit Mark Stewart in the head during an altercation inside the bar on Sprague Road on May 10, 2024. Mark and James Stewart are brothers. The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office alleges the Stewarts had been drinking most of the day away at two bars including Joker's when they got into an argument with Lewis Wade, Kleinman's friend, and started a physical fight that turned into a fatal shooting. James Stewart has pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense or defense of others to murder, felonious assault, illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor permit premises, firearms specifications and misdemeanor charges of assault and using weapons while intoxicated. He is free on bond while standing trial. His defense, led by attorney Michael Stepanik, is that he was protecting his brother from Kleinman when he fired the fatal shot. James Stewart had retrieved his handgun from his truck after an alleged disagreement or misunderstanding over the use of racial slurs. Andre Thompson, who testified he had been a regular at Joker's for seven to eight months prior to the shooting, testified he hadn't even ordered his first drink that night when James Stewart began throwing punches at Lewis Wade. Lewis Wade, a friend of Kleinman, is Black. He testified this week he and Kleinman thought Mark Stewart was eavesdropping on their conversation, so Kleinman made a crack about Mark Stewart allegedly using the N-word. Wade testified Mark Stewart didn't use the racial slur and appeared shocked and horrified at the thought, and his reaction proved he had been eavesdropping. According to Wade, James Stewart allegedly told Mark Stewart he could say whatever he wanted in America in 2024, got his gun and tried to pick a fight. Thompson said he didn't see any problems before James Stewart started throwing punches at Wade. That's when Mark Stewart "chest-bumped" Thompson at the bar and swore at him to "get the f*** back" as Thompson made his way toward where Wade and James Stewart were squaring off. Thompson testified he "didn't know how to respond" but tried to play peacemaker with Mark Stewart, who was "very aggressive," "out-bursting," "getting loud" and "probably intoxicated." Prosecutors allege James Stewart had 12 to 15 alcoholic drinks in the eight hours before the killing, and that Mark Stewart had nine to 12 in about seven hours. Thompson testified he was only an arm's length from James Stewart when the gunman fired three shots at Kleinman, who had started to punch Mark Stewart from behind. Kleinman was struck in the head and died at the scene. "Everyone ran" Thompson testified. He said he put his arm on top of James Stewart's shooting arm to "try to get him to calm down" but James Stewart told Thompson: "Don't f***ing touch me." James Stewart then pushed his way out the back door of the bar and left in his truck, Thompson and other witnesses testified this week. Olmsted Falls and Olmsted Township police found James Stewart and his uncle, Danny Talmadge, standing outside a Ford F-150 next to Uncle John's Home & Garden on Columbia Road after James Stewart called 911 at his uncle's insistence. James Stewart was arrested. The alleged murder weapon was found in the center console of his truck, collected as evidence and handed over to the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, Olmsted Township police Officer Dan Nutaitis testified. While that arrest and search were happening, sheriff's Detective Chris Wohlever and other detectives and deputies processed the crime scene at Joker's, Wohlever testified Tuesday. Kleinman was laying on his right side in a pool of blood with an obvious gunshot wound to his head, Wohlever testified. In the days after the shooting, after telling responding deputies he was "attacked" that night, Mark Stewart declined to give an official statement to Wohlever without talking to an attorney first, the detective testified. Police also found more ammunition and synthetic urine in James Stewart's truck. Wohlever testified synthetic urine is used by alleged drunken drivers to try and defeat chemical sobriety tests. Joker's owner Don Kreitzer, who was in Florida the night of the fatal shooting, testified that guns aren't allowed in his bar in most cases, though he admitted he didn't know the law exactly. Kreitzer testified he didn't know that Kleinman had several baggies of cocaine on him the night he was killed. Dealing drugs in Joker's would have gotten Kleinman kicked out, Kreitzer testified. Testimony resumes today in Judge Chris Cook's courtroom. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com