Trust was Clarence “Red” Julian's downfall — that and Jerome Carter, prosecutors contended Tuesday.

        On trial in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, charged with killing Mr. Julian, 19, Miko Carter, 22, and Gabriel Beckham, 16, on Jan. 1, Mr. Carter was indicted on three counts each of aggravated murder, murder and aggravated robbery.

        The bodies of the three men were found New Year's Day inside a Springfield Township house.

        During opening arguments Tuesday in the jury trial, prosecutors argued that Mr. Carter's relationship with members of the Julian family and their acquaintances gained him access to the home.

        Mr. Julian and his brothers ran the house like a fortress, said Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Anne Flanagan. They were so concerned about security they allowed guests in only through a rear door.

        “If they didn't know you, you got put out or they wouldn't let you in,” testified Joyce Gilbert, Jerome Carter's aunt.

        She told the jury that she was at the house Jan. 1 to braid Mr. Julian's, Mr. Beckham's and Miko Carter's hair.

        Ms. Gilbert told jurors she went home and saw on the news that the trio had been found shot inside the house, the victims of an apparent robbery. Miko Carter was shot three times in the head, Mr. Beckham once in the head and Mr. Julian was shot once in the head and the arm.

        She said she tried to think who would kill the three. Her mind kept settling on her 19-year-old nephew, Jerome Carter.

        Described by prosecutors as a failed braggart jealous of the money Mr. Julian and his friends had made in their illicit business, Jerome Carter had at one point voiced a desire to rob the “Smooth Brothers,” as members of the Julian circle were called.

        Ms. Gilbert said she confronted her nephew, but he denied any part in the killing.

        Defense attorneys contend that Ms. Gilbert, not Jerome Carter, had more motive to kill the trio.

        The trial will resume today in Judge Steve Martin's courtroom.

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