MAHONING COUNTY Jurors to see boy's confession in crime rampage, gang rape
The judge has given three of the defendants until Aug. 23 to decide if they will enter plea agreements.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The confession of a 16-year-old boy accused of participating in a crime spree that included the gang rape of a 21-year-old woman can be shown to jurors in a potential trial, a judge in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has ruled.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum ruled Friday that Brandon Moore's constitutional rights were not violated when Youngstown police took the statement in the days after his August 2001 arrest. Moore had sought to have the statement tossed out of court.
Moore, of Applecrest Court in Boardman, faces charges of kidnapping, rape and three counts of aggravated robbery. He is being tried as an adult.
Also accused in the crime are Jamar Callier, 22, of West Delason Avenue and Chaz Bunch, 17, of Willis Avenue, who is also being tried as an adult.
The Boardman woman told police she was gang-raped at gunpoint Aug. 21 on the city's South Side.
Investigators said two men and the two boys had been out cruising and robbing people when they came across the woman in a Detroit Avenue driveway. She was taken to another location, where she was raped, investigators said.
Andre Bundy, 19, of West Hylda Avenue is accused of being involved in the robberies but not the rape.
Other matters
Also in his ruling, Krichbaum said he will allow prosecutors to present a photo array from which the woman picked Moore as one of her assailants and ruled that police had probable cause to arrest Moore when they stopped a vehicle in which he was riding.
In separate Friday rulings, Krichbaum has given Bunch, Callier and Bundy until Aug. 23 to decide if they will enter plea agreements with the state. Each is scheduled for trial Sept. 9.
The state has moved to have their trials consolidated, but lawyers for Bunch and Bundy have asked that they be tried separately.
In an earlier ruling, Krichbaum said Moore waived his right to a speedy trial earlier in the week to pursue a possible plea agreement. His case, which was slated to begin Monday, was continued until Aug. 21.
Bunch faces multiple counts of rape, complicity to rape, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, aggravated menacing and conspiracy to aggravated robbery.
Callier faces two counts each of rape and aggravated robbery and one count each of kidnapping and conspiracy to aggravated robbery.
Bundy is charged with conspiracy to aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated robbery.