YOUNGSTOWN Lawyers seek new trial in road rage conviction

By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Lawyers for a city woman convicted last week of running down a man with her car in a case of road rage are asking for a new trial.
A jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court found 37-year-old Tina Davis of Powers Way guilty of felonious assault. She faces two to eight years in prison or could be placed on probation.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum ordered a background check on Davis before sentencing. She is being held in the county jail.
Davis' attorneys, Robert Rohrbaugh II and Lou D'Apolito, filed a motion this week asking Judge Krichbaum to overturn the verdict and grant a new trial.
They said the jury verdict was not sustained by sufficient evidence and that Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Pochiro failed to provide them with information concerning the criminal background of one of the witnesses in the case.
"I don't know what they're talking about," Pochiro said. He had not yet seen the motion.
What happened: Authorities said Davis was southbound on Interstate 680 in March 2000 when she got into a fight with three men who were traveling south in another car.
She followed the men off I-680 onto U.S. Route 224 in Boardman, then into a restaurant parking lot where an argument took place. She ran over one of the men, 43-year-old David Morrow of Austintown, with her car.
Rohrbaugh said one of the men in the car had previously been convicted of assault, though the defense was not told about it until after the trial. That information could have been used to impeach the man's testimony during the trial.
"All we know is that there is something there and we had no information about it," Rohrbaugh said.
Pochiro said he's unaware of the charge or conviction.
"I gave them what I had," he said. Local court rules require prosecutors to provide the defense with copies of all information they have discovered pertaining to the case.
bjackson@vindy.com