James Stewart gives his side of fatal 2024 Joker's Pub shooting in court

ELYRIA — James Stewart testified Thursday he didn't want to shoot and kill Jason Kleinman inside Joker's Pub and Grub on Sprague Road in Columbia Township on May 10, 2024. But Kleinman was "beating my brother to death," Stewart testified Thursday at his murder trial in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Stewart, 42, of Brunswick, admitted he intentionally shot Kleinman, 49, of Olmsted Falls, during his attack on Mark Stewart. "I wish it never happened," he said on the stand, but "I don't think it is a mistake to protect your family ... I reacted in the best way I could to protect my brother." Stewart is on trial in Judge Chris Cook's courtroom on charges of murder, felonious assault and illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor permit premises, as well as firearms specifications and a misdemeanor charge of using weapons while intoxicated. He has pleaded not guilty by self-defense or defense of others and remains free on bond while on trial. Kleinman, 49, of Olmsted Falls, was shot once in the head and killed as he punched James Stewart's brother Mark Stewart multiple times in the head. Approximately 35 seconds of chaotic arguing, punches, shoving and shooting was caught on two video cameras inside the bar. Cook on Thursday acquitted James Stewart of misdemeanor assault against Kleinman's friend Lewis Wade, a bar patron who had a physical confrontation with James Stewart after trading words with Mark Stewart. "I don't believe this assault charge should go to the jury," Cook decided after letting jurors leave for the day. Closing arguments are today, and all other charges will go to the jury for deliberation. The testimony Everything he did that night was in self-defense or to protect his brother, James Stewart testified, from throwing five punches at Wade after allegedly being headbutted to firing three rounds in a crowded bar, killing Kleinman. Mark Stewart had previously testified he suffered a concussion in the alleged attack and didn't remember most of what happened that night. James Stewart testified there were no problems at all until Kleinman and Wade started harassing and threatening Mark Stewart and accused him of using a racial slur. Wade, who is Black, had testified Kleinman was "messing" with Mark Stewart and suggesting he said something he didn't say. Things got out of hand when Mark Stewart told James Stewart about the accusation and James Stewart started making threats involving a gun, Wade had testified. Testifying that he sensed danger, James Stewart left the bar, got his 9mm Heckler & Koch VP9 handgun from his truck and went back into the bar, where the gun was not allowed. More words followed, and both Wade and James Stewart were walking toward the bar's back door when Wade turned and allegedly headbutted James Stewart, the defendant testified. Video showed James Stewart throwing five punches at Wade and missing. The two men were separated, and a few moments passed with the men at either end of the bar before Kleinman, for unknown reasons, started punching Mark Stewart in the head. James Stewart testified that's when he pulled his gun and pulled the trigger, shooting and killing Kleinman "regrettably." "I was protecting my brother," he testified. James Stewart also denied any of his three shots came close to hitting other bar patrons, including his brother and his uncle, who were in front of the barrel of his gun. "You're making it sound like I shot at them," James Stewart told Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre after Pierre asked who else was in front of him when he fired. "... I didn't shoot toward them." Pierre suggested during cross examination that James Stewart, a concealed carry weapons permit holder, would have been taught it was illegal to carry a loaded weapon into a bar. James Stewart testified there were no signs at Joker's that said he couldn't, and if there were he didn't see them. Prosecutors alleged the Stewarts and their uncle, Danny Talmadge, started drinking at Ace's Depot in North Olmsted after 3 p.m., continued drinking at Joker's just after 7 p.m., drove back to Ace's, were kicked out and returned to Joker's just after 10:40 p.m. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com