LISBON — Brandon Kessler testified Thursday that he threw the 9mm gun allegedly used to shoot Robert E. “Hubba” Herron on Sept. 9, 2024 into the Ohio River off of Riverside in Wellsville — the same 9mm gun he saw Jeno Wall fire to shoot and kill Hubba.

The same 9mm gun that he said Wall placed in a bag at Kessler’s house on Tenth Street not long after the shooting and told Kessler to get rid of, that gun.

“Why did you do that?” Columbiana County Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones asked.

“I was scared. I was afraid of myself being killed,” Kessler said.

The 42-year-old Wellsville resident testified in jailhouse orange while wearing shackles after agreeing to waive his rights and taking his oath to tell the truth from county Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton. The testimony was a requirement of a recent plea deal reached between the prosecution and Kessler, who had been originally charged with obstructing justice, a third-degree felony, for not being truthful with investigators regarding the murder.

Kessler entered a guilty plea last Friday before Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam to the obstructing justice charge, along with tampering with evidence, another third-degree felony charge. His sentencing is set for 1 p.m. Nov. 21. According to the proposed felony plea agreement, the recommended sentence will be five years in prison. The maximum possible sentence would be three years for each count.

Wall, also known as Mally, 35, Steubenville, could be facing a possible sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of aggravated murder for allegedly shooting Herron to death. He’s also charged with murder, firearm specifications and third-degree felony intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case. The trial started Tuesday, with a jury of eight women and four men selected, along with two alternates, a man and a woman.

Kessler lives within walking distance of the property of James R “Jimmy” Howell, where the shooting took place. Howell testified Wednesday about witnessing the shooting.

Kessler said he worked that day and had borrowed the truck of his neighbor, Roger Ingram. When he arrived home, his roommate John Lanam’s girlfriend Katrina Smith was there, but Lanam wasn’t. He said Hubba and Hubba’s girlfriend, Tiffany Sattler, had stayed at his house a few months in the summer, but then were staying at Jimmy’s house. He said he knew Joseph Savin, who had a lot next door where he kept some of his work stuff, and later in the evening went for a ride with him in his dark green truck, which wasn’t unusual. He said they drove to the end of Wellsville and picked up a person he learned later was Jeno Wall or Mally.

According to Kessler, they then drove back to his house, his roommate pulled up and he was in and out of the house and Tiffany was there and Jeno asked if she knew where Hubba was. He said he and Jeno went to Jimmy’s house looking for him and Jimmy had not seen him for awhile. They left and then returned when Jimmy hollered. Kessler said he found Hubba’s bag, then Jeno found Hubba, told him to stand up, hit him in the mouth with the gun and shot him.

“Did you have any idea what was about to happen?” Jones asked. “No I did not,” Kessler said.

He turned around and ran home and recalled hearing Hubba saying “you shot me.” He also said Jimmy ran.

Kessler said the gun was a 9mm and there was one shot fired. He went upstairs and then heard Jeno (Wall) and Joey (Savin) come in the house. The gun was placed in a brown bag and he was told to get rid of it. Joey took Jeno and Tiffany and dropped them off somewhere and then he came back for Kessler.

“He took me to Riverside and I threw it in the river,” Kessler said, referring to the gun.

When he spoke with Wellsville Police officers on Sept. 10, 2024, he told them what happened to Hubba but left out the part about him dumping the gun. He told Jones that Jeno threatened his life and his kids’ lives if he ended up in jail.

Defense attorney Joe King questioned Kessler about his identification of Jeno, asking “did you tell investigators you didn’t ever know what he looked like?” Kessler denied ever saying he didn’t know what he looked like.

“I seen him the night that he murdered Hubba,” Kessler said.

In talking about the alleged threats in the jail, he said other inmates and correction officers heard. He was asked if he saw a gun on Jimmy and said he may have had one, but then said Jeno had Jimmy’s gun when he came to his house with the murder weapon. King asked which gun he gave him to get rid of and Kessler said, “the gun that he killed Hubba with.”

King kept asking Kessler about drug use and he admitted he smoked some methamphetamine. Jones remarked that King was asking him a lot of questions about drugs. She asked him to describe again what happened to Hubba and when asked who shot him, he said Jeno Wall. When questioned again by King, he told him he knew what he looked from Wall giving him the gun. He then told Jones that he knew what the shooter looked like, he didn’t know his name at the time. He identified Wall in the courtroom.

The first witness was Andrew Chappell, a forensic scientist with the Ohio Bureau of Investigation who examines firearms, bullets and casings. He went into great detail about how a gun fires and how he analyzes bullets and cartridges, reporting that in this case, he received a fired bullet that was covered in red paint and had lansing grooves, which would put spin on the bullet for greater accuracy and distance.

He consulted an FBI list of possible firearms that could have fired such a bullet and the result was 54 possible firearms, all 9mm except for one, a .38 revolver. Under questioning from Weeda, he said a .38 is not the same as a .380, confirming that the bullet fired was not from a .380. During testimony Wednesday, James R “Jimmy” Howell had testified about having a .380 gun

Chappell also reviewed the analysis that another BCI scientist did on a casing submitted and said it’s a 9 mm casing. No gun was provided to BCI to analyze, he told defense attorney Charley Kidder.

East Palestine Police Detective Daniel Haueter, who’s also with the county’s Major Crimes Task Force, testified about extracting data from several phones, including the defendant’s cell phone, Savin’s phone, Howell’s phone and Kessler’s phone, and from a tablet used by the victim to communicate with people.

He reviewed information which showed Herron and Wall had been communicating with each other on Sept. 9, 2024 and also several texts between Savin and Wall, including one in which Wall told him to get the hoodie on the back seat and his tablet and give it to Johnny. Another text from Wall to Savin mentioned the hoodie again, saying “the dirty one I should worry about.”

Wall had been described in earlier testimony as wearing a white or light-colored hoodie on Sept. 9, 2024. Patrick Wright, an investigator with the county prosecutor’s office and member of the Major Crimes Task Force, testified about what he found on video footage secured from two residences on Anderson Avenue, one on Tiger Drive, one on 18th Street and one at Rich Oil, all in Wellsville showing the travels of the dark truck allegedly driven by Savin. Videos showed the truck leaving and coming back to Kessler’s residence and showed someone in a white hoodie several times. The person in the white hoodie was also seen in Savin’s truck at Rich Oil and Wall had said during a police interview that he went to Rich Oil with Savin.

During one of the videos, the gunshot was heard. Weeda asked if the video footage confirmed the testimony of Savin and Kessler and Wright said it did.

The last witness of the day was William Weyand, an inmate currently incarcerated, who said he knew Jeno Wall from being in the county jail at the same time. He claimed that Wall asked him to say that it was Jimmy Howell that done it.

“Done what?” Weeda asked. “Shot Hubba,” Weyand replied.

He said that Wall offered him money and ice, specifically $3,000 and 90 grams of methamphetamine. When Weeda asked him why he was nervous as he took the stand, Weyand said “I’m in fear for my family for testifying.”

During questioning by Kidder, he said he was in his cell and no one else heard this. When asked if he had any evidence that Wall even had any drugs or money, he said he probably would have arranged it.

Kidder questioned why a man he didn’t know would offer him $3,000 and 90 grams of drugs, with Wall saying he probably didn’t want to go to jail for the rest of his life. He also made some comment about him hearing that Brandon Kessler had a gun, but under cross-examination by Weeda said to his knowledge it wasn’t the night of the murder.

The state’s case is expected to finish today, with the defense prepared to call witnesses.