WARREN New trial denied in sale of alcohol to minor at bar

The witness told an FBI agent that he wrongfully identified the person.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A visiting judge said he found no reason to grant a new trial for a woman convicted of selling alcohol to a minor.
Visiting Municipal Judge Lynn B. Griffith Jr. denied Friday a request by Marlene Nahhas for a new trial.
Judge Griffith, who retired last year, heard the request because he handled the case originally in 1999, court officials said.
The judge said Friday that to grant the motion of Nahhas' attorney, Michael D. Joseph, the court would have had to see new evidence.
What's next: The judge said Nahhas will have to begin serving her 10-day jail sentence unless an appeal is filed with the 11th District Court of Appeals by Friday.
Nahhas and her husband, Joe, own Z & amp;J Market, Perkinswood Boulevard S.E. She was convicted in November 1999 of selling beer to a minor.
Joseph presented the court a statement from a witness who said he wrongfully identified Nahhas as the person who sold him alcoholic beverages. The statement was taken Aug. 24 by FBI agent Wallace Sines.
What's in statement: The witness said in the statement that he testified in court that it was Mrs. Nahhas who sold him the beer because Detective William Boldin threatened him with jail if he did not identify her as the clerk. The witness told the FBI agent that he was afraid of Boldin.
FBI and court officials declined to say why the FBI took a statement from the witness.
Prosecutor Stanley Elkins, however, stated that the witness, who was a minor at the time, changed his statement several times before and after the trial.
Elkins told the judge that the fact the witness made "yet another statement" should not be grounds for a new trial.
After the hearing, Joe Nahhas began yelling at Boldin, who was seated at the prosecutor's table. Court officials escorted Nahhas from the courtroom.
Boldin declined to comment.