Strollo associate seeks new trial
Riddle was convicted for his role in the shootings of two lawyers and a mob associate.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A man serving a life sentence for his role in mob shootings wants a new trial.
Jeffrey Riddle Jr., 41, of Youngstown, filed a motion Tuesday with the 7th District Court of Appeals asking that his May 1999 conviction be overturned.
Riddle, Lavance Turnage of Youngstown, and Bernard Altshuler of Liberty were found guilty by a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court jury in 1999 of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity that included murder, attempted murder and felonious assault.
The three men were convicted of nearly identical charges in federal court earlier that year and are also serving life sentences for those charges.
The men were associates of former mob leader Lenny Strollo. Their charges centered on the shooting death of another mobster, Ernie Biondillo Jr., and the wounding of county Prosecutor Paul Gains and Atty. Gary L. Van Brocklin. All of the crimes happened in 1996.
According to testimony, all three men planned the hits, stalked the victims or drove getaway cars but were not involved in the actual shootings.
Appeal: In his appeal, Riddle asks that a conviction for a firearm specification be overturned. A firearm specification is an attachment to other charges and means a gun was used to commit the crime. A conviction carries a mandatory three-year prison sentence.
But Riddle, who wrote his own appeal, argues that since he was not involved in the shootings he could not have been found to have used a gun.
An unarmed co-conspirator should not be subjected to the three-year prison term, he said.
The main thrust of his appeal, though, is that his lawyer, E. Winther McCroom, failed to challenge his criminal indictment based on "predisposed opinions" of the jury panel.
Jury problems: In his appeal brief, Riddle cites several instances where jurors admitted having some bias or prior knowledge about the case while being questioned by lawyers during jury selection.
One juror said he was prejudiced against black people and another said he was prejudiced against the mob, according to court documents. Others said they had been influenced by press coverage of the cases.
Riddle's appeal document does not say, though, whether the prospective jurors whose opinions he cites were actually chosen to serve on the jury.
He asks that his conviction be vacated and the case sent back to common pleas court for a new trial.