Trial begins in Tataseo murder case
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LISBON -- A deteriorating relationship, an impending eviction and a desperate son whose father stood up to him -- that's what prosecutors said led to the violent death of 76-year-old James E. Tataseo.
"James Tataseo would not budge. That's what got him killed," Columbiana County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Weikart told jurors during his opening statement.
On Tuesday morning in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, the jury trial began in the case against 46-year-old Nathan Tataseo of Columbiana, who's accused of killing his father, James, the night of June 28, 2022 at the family home on South Elm Street in Columbiana.
The indictment for aggravated murder alleges that Nathan Tataseo "did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the death of James E. Tataseo."
Besides the aggravated murder charge, other charges against him include murder, theft and theft from a person in a protected class.
Both the aggravated murder and murder charges are unclassified felonies. The theft and theft from a person in a protected class are fifth-degree felonies. According to the indictment, the theft charges involve a stolen bank card and personal belongings of the victim, James E. Tataseo, who was identified as an elderly person.
Jury selection took most of the morning, with the jury of six men and six women and two alternates, a man and a woman, seated before noon. After preliminary instructions, they were released for lunch, then returned for opening arguments after 1:30 p.m., followed by two witnesses for the state, Columbiana Police Sgt. Chris Dailey and New Waterford resident Jim Tataseo, son of the victim and older brother of the defendant.
Besides by Weikart, the state was represented by county Assistant Prosecutors Alec Beech and Christopher Weeda. The defense team included Charley Kidder and Paul Conn.
Kidder requested Judge Megan Bickerton allow him to move his opening statement to the beginning of the defense presenting its case, but she declined. Weikart said they wouldn't be able to refer to testimony from the state's case if they were permitted to do it.
Weikart laid the groundwork for the case against Nathan Tataseo, explaining how the victim's son, Jim Tataseo, was contacted on June 30 by his brother John, who lives in Pennsylvania, because he couldn't reach their father. Jim Tataseo testified that he thought maybe he was at the Covington nursing home in East Palestine visiting their mother, Virginia, since he visited her every day, twice a day. She had been there since January 2022. While on the way to his father's residence, he called the nursing home and learned his father had not been there for two days, causing him concern.
When he arrived at the house, he had to unlock both locks on the back door, which was unusual, and entered to find his father in his recliner "lifeless." A registered nurse for 30 years, he checked for a pulse and found none, then went out the front door to call for help.
Weikart described in detail the victim's injuries, saying his head was smashed in, he was cold to the touch and the blood had dried on the top of his head, indicating he had been there a while. He said once the dried blood was removed, a distinct pattern of three perfectly spaced parallel lacerations were found. That pattern happened to match the top of a heater that was hidden in plain sight near the recliner.
"This was a sneak attack," Weikart said,
The defendant had lived in the home for most of his life, but was nowhere to be found the night his father was found murdered. According to Weikart, he had no job, was contributing nothing, and was suspected of taking some items from the house. He was reportedly only permitted to have a key to the back door, not the front, and was not supposed to be driving his father's car or truck. His father had a lock on his own bedroom door to keep him out and had taken some guns to his son John to keep for him.
Adult Protective Services had been contacted for assistance and his son John had been helping him with the eviction process to get Nathan out of the house. Jim Tataseo said his father was going to sell the house and move to a senior living facility in Pennsylvania to be closer to his grandson, his son John and close to Jim's workplace.
Weikart said the victim liked to read the newspaper and two newspapers for Wednesday and Thursday still in the plastic wrapping were found stacked next to his recliner. Below them, there was blood and the Tuesday paper.
"This defendant was still bringing in newspapers and locking the door, waiting for that body to be found," Weikart said.
The keys to the house and vehicles were missing, along with a television and the victim's cell phone. The outline of the television could be seen where it had been sitting.
When the defendant was found in a drainage pipe, he claimed he voluntarily left the residence on Monday, June 27, and gave back his keys, but Weikart said he was seen at the house. The keys were found in the woods where he had been staying, not far from the house, where there was a structure and two bags of his belongings. He was also caught on camera trying to use his father's debit card.
During Jim Tataseo's testimony under questioning by Beech, he talked about when he last saw his father on June 28, described his father's demeanor as sad and upset when his brother Nathan wrecked his vehicle in December 2021 and they had to go retrieve the vehicle and how he seemed excited his last night due to the plans for a senior living facility. He also talked about how both his parents enabled Nathan and how he didn't have much contact with him.
Conn questioned his testimony, saying most of what he said he knew came from other people, not from his direct knowledge. Multiple times during his testimony, Conn had objected and claimed hearsay, but was overruled.
Dailey testified briefly about what he found when he responded to the house after police were contacted about a deceased person, noting there was trauma to the head and the face was discolored.
During his opening statement, Kidder focused mostly on what he said was the duty of the jurors, to represent justice and act as a barrier for the government to prove its case.
"I beg you to look at the quality of the evidence, not just the quantity," he said.
Testimony was expected to continue today.
Nathan Tataseo remains jailed under a $1 million bond, but has appeared in street clothes during the proceedings.
mgreier@mojonews.com