WARREN Retrial to continue into rape charges

The prosecution expects the case to last about four days.
WARREN -- Testimony is scheduled to continue today in the retrial of a 42-year-old man accused of raping a 16-year-old girl he knew.
Jurors were selected Tuesday for William Sweitzer's trial. Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court is presiding.
The prosecutor's office expects the case to last about four days.
Thomas Wrenn, an assistant county prosecutor, said Sweitzer is accused of raping the girl four times in 1997.
Sweitzer, of Warren, has maintained his innocence.
This is the second time Sweitzer's case has been before a jury.
A jury convicted Sweitzer in 1999 on the four counts of rape, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The 11th District Court of Appeals granted him a new trial last year.
Here's why: The appellate court stated that Judge Logan erred when he did not conduct a hearing into allegations of juror misconduct and when he denied Sweitzer's motion to hire a medical expert.
Sweitzer had asked to have an expert discuss a sexually transmitted disease, but the judge denied his request because Sweitzer had hired his own attorneys.
The appellate court, however, ruled that the trial court should have determined if Sweitzer was indigent and therefore couldn't afford to hire the expert.
Rhonda Cadwallader, a friend of Sweitzer's family, told defense attorneys she overheard jurors talking about the case during a lunch break. Defense attorneys and court documents say Cadwallader heard the jurors talking and one juror said Sweitzer "looked guilty."