AKRON, Ohio — The case of Dacarrei Kinard is heading to a jury after Tuesday's closing arguments. Kinard has been charged in connection to last year’s alleged road rage shooting death of George “Geo” Jensen on I-76 in Norton.
Jury instructions and deliberations will begin on Wednesday morning.
The charges against Kinard include two counts of murder and one count of felonious assault, among others.
“We will request you guys to find the defendant, Mr. Kinard, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, both counts of murder, and that he did purposefully shoot and kill the victim," Assistant Summit County prosecutor Zachary Neumann told the jury as the trial started last week on Friday.
KINARD ON THE STAND
During Day 3 of the trial, Kinard took to the stand for questioning.
Question: What happened that day?
Kinard: It was a typical day. It was pretty nice out. Started out with me waking up around noonish and getting my day started. The plan was to travel from Columbus to Youngstown.
Kinard said he was driving using cruise control at 65 mph when he merged from the slow lane to the fast lane and noticed a blue Mazda behind him.
Question: What was it about him that made you notice he was behind you?
Kinard: I seen him going in and out of traffic from left and right, speeding up slowing down, speeding up slowing down, flashing his lights. I seen his hands like he was mad.
While on the stand, Kinard said that he felt like he was being tailgated by the Mazda and recounted what he did while the vehicle was behind him.
“He pissed me off. He made me mad. I sped up. I took off of auto control and took it up to about 71-72 mph. He still proceeded to swerve in and out of traffic and seemed like he was mad still.”
Eventually, Kinard said that he tried to get into the right lane to try to pass the Mazda.
“As I am coming up passing him, he cuts me off or tries to hit me with his car and force me off the road. I was scared to death I panicked. I lost control of the car. I went off the highway to avoid a white trailer truck."
From the berm, Kinard alleged that he merged back onto the highway where the blue Mazda was on his left side.
“Next, I could see him coming into my lane again. He was matching my speed. We were like window to window, door to door. I could tell he was getting closer and closer to my car. I looked over at him and I could see clear as day he was pointing a black object at me and was focusing on me, and I was scared for my life. I thought he was going to harm me. I was terrified. I took cover, went down, and grabbed my firearm and when I looked up, he was still pointing whatever he was pointing at me. I was scared and I just fired. I was scared and didn’t want him to hurt me.”
Kinard added that he doesn’t remember how many shots were fired as he was “just trying to defend” himself.
Following the shooting, Kinard said that he drove away in order to get away from the blue Mazda. Additionally, he said he didn’t call the police.
When Kinard was asked if he agreed if he caused the death of George Jensen, Kinard nodded his head and said, “Correct.”
He continued to say, “I was trying to defend myself. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone… I was scared. I was trying to defend myself."
Later during the trial, Kinard admitted to lying when he first spoke with investigators, stating that he was not in Norton the day of the incident and did not own any firearms.
DETAILS OF THE CASE
The shooting dates back to May 17, 2023.
As 3News previously reported, police say that witnesses observed somebody inside a black Camaro firing shots at the victim's vehicle.
The driver of the Camaro allegedly fled the scene after the victim’s vehicle crashed.
Authorities have said the Camaro then re-entered the highway going westbound on I-76 and drove back past the scene of the shooting.
Kinard was arrested in Columbus in the area of 1400 Livingston Court two weeks after Jensen was shot and killed.