YOUNGSTOWN Jury to deliberate robbery, rape case

One defense lawyer said those who identified his client are either mistaken or lying.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Andre Bundy and Brandon Moore admit they were there the night a Mayfield Street couple was robbed and a Boardman woman was kidnapped, robbed and raped -- all at gunpoint -- in August 2001.
But Bundy says he was just the driver and didn't know all those things were going to happen.
Moore says he robbed and raped out of fear because Chaz Bunch threatened to kill him if he didn't.
Bunch's lawyer says that can't be so because Bunch was never there. He says it was someone else who did those things, and that people who've identified Bunch, including the rape victim, are either mistaken or lying.
Those were the defense positions in closing statements Tuesday afternoon in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, where Bunch, Moore and Bundy are on trial.
Now, eight female and four male jurors will decide whether they believe the defense versions of what happened that night or the version put forth by prosecutors who say the men acted in concert with one another.
Jurors were to hear instructions of law this morning from Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, and then begin deliberating.
Bunch, 17, and Moore, 16, are being tried as adults on multiple counts of aggravated robbery, rape and kidnapping. Bundy, 19, is charged with three counts of aggravated robbery.
In an impassioned, hourlong closing argument, attorney Dennis DiMartino acknowledged that what happened to the Boardman woman was "horrible and unspeakable," but said Bunch didn't do it.
"We all felt miserable and rotten as human beings that could live in a society that could allow this to happen to another human being," DiMartino said, choking back tears as he recalled the victim's testimony.
Victim's testimony
During the trial, she testified that she was brutally and repeatedly raped and sodomized by Bunch and Moore, while Bundy and another suspect, Jamar Callier, sat in a nearby car and watched.
Callier pleaded guilty to reduced charges and testified against the others. He faces seven years in prison for his role.
DiMartino said there is no physical or forensic evidence linking Bunch to the crimes.
But assistant prosecutors Deena Calabrese and Michael Maillis said the rape victim identified Bunch, as did Callier.
Attorneys Damian Billak and James Gentile, who represent Moore and Bundy, also said it was Bunch who coerced their clients to participate and then remain silent about it.
Maillis said Moore had several opportunities to escape if he truly was afraid of Bunch, but he didn't.
"There was no coercion, no threats," Maillis said. "Nobody forced him to do anything. He did exactly what he wanted to do and he took exactly what he wanted to take."
Calabrese pointed out that Bunch and Moore had masks and guns in the car, and that the men were in the car together for four hours that night.
"They weren't just out for a pleasant drive," she said. "They were out to rob people and rape people."
bjackson@vindy.com