Rape-robbery trial ends with 3 guilty

By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Wednesday's guilty verdicts against three young men in a kidnapping, robbery and rape trial brought satisfaction to the prosecution, but defense lawyers indicated they will appeal.
The highly emotional case pertained to the armed robbery of a couple on Mayfield Avenue and the armed kidnapping, robbery and rape of a 21-year-old Boardman woman, who was abducted as she arrived for the overnight shift at her Detroit Avenue workplace in August 2001.
"I think justice has been done," said Ellen Taylor, director of the Family Service Agency's rape information and counseling program, who was with the rape victim in the courtroom throughout the eight-day trial.
"We don't think that men like this need to be on the streets of Youngstown," Taylor added.
"The [rape] victim's testimony was the best I've ever heard in my life. And she was so moving and so honest that it convinced this jury beyond a reasonable doubt," said assistant prosecutor Deena Calabrese.
"You would have to be not human to not feel the emotions of what happened here and what happened to her that night. The state will recommend the maximum sentences," she added.
"It's just nice to see that you put a lot of work in, and that the jurors followed the law and they did the right thing," said Michael Maillis, another assistant prosecutor, referring to his last trial here before joining an Akron law firm.
The verdicts
After five hours of deliberations, the jury of eight women and four men found Brandon Moore, 16, guilty on all counts.
The jurors acquitted Chaz Bunch, 17, of two counts of aggravated robbery he was facing concerning the couple but convicted him on an aggravated-robbery count concerning the rape victim and on all other charges. Both were convicted on multiple firearms specifications.
Bunch and Moore were tried as adults on multiple counts of aggravated robbery and rape and a kidnapping charge. They face from 60 to more than 100 years each in prison, Calabrese said.
The third defendant, Andre Bundy, 19, was acquitted on one count of aggravated robbery and all firearms specifications but convicted on another aggravated robbery count and on a charge of conspiracy to aggravated robbery. He faces six to 20 years in prison, Calabrese said.
Atty. James Gentile, Bundy's lawyer, said he was puzzled by the jury's finding his client guilty of robbing one person and not the other as the couple sat in the same car. As to whether he would appeal, Gentile said, "I think what I'm going to do is try to seek some relief in the trial court first.''
Atty. Dennis DiMartino, Bunch's lawyer, noted that the three defendants were separately indicted but were joined in the same trial over the defense's objections.
He said he would make several post-conviction motions, including an appeal.
Moore's lawyer, Damian Billak, declined to comment.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sent the three defendants back to county jail, where they have been held for a year, to await sentencing, which he said would be set for sometime next week.
Security was tight with at least 10 deputy sheriffs in the courtroom when the jury rendered its verdicts.
Before the jury emerged to deliver its verdicts, Judge Krichbaum warned that anyone disrupting the court proceedings would be arrested and have to answer to contempt of court. "If anyone cannot control his or her emotions, then you should leave now," he advised.
As a further security precaution, the judge asked everyone to remain seated until the jury left the courtroom.
During the trial, the prosecution presented 20 witnesses and 104 exhibits. The defense rested its case without presenting any witnesses or exhibits.