MAHONING COUNTY Jury selection begins in kidnap, rape case

Two of the three suspects are juveniles, but they are being tried as adults.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jury selection began Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court where three city men are on trial in the kidnapping, rape and robbery of a Boardman woman last year.
Two of them are juveniles being tried as adults, and only two are charged in the kidnapping and rape. The other is charged with participating in the robbery.
Chaz Bunch, Brandon Moore and Andre Bundy each face multiple criminal charges. They are being tried at the same time against the wishes of their attorneys, who had asked that the trials be separated.
Bunch, 17, of Willis Avenue, faces multiple counts of rape, complicity to rape, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, aggravated menacing and conspiracy to aggravated robbery.
Moore, 16, of Applecrest Court, is charged with rape, kidnapping and three counts of aggravated robbery.
Bundy, 19, of West Hylda Avenue, is accused of being involved in the robbery but not in the rape.
Pleaded guilty
A fourth person, 22-year-old Jamar Callier of West Dewey Avenue, faced charges similar to Bundy's but pleaded guilty to reduced charges earlier this month.
He is expected to testify against the others during the trial.
In exchange for his testimony, prosecutors will recommend that Callier receive a seven-year prison sentence. Judge R. Scott Krichbaum will sentence Callier after the others are tried.
Investigators said the victim, who was 21 at the time, was grabbed from a Detroit Avenue driveway by two men who were out cruising around and robbing people.
Callier's lawyer, John B. Juhasz, said at Callier's plea hearing that Callier and Bundy were not in on the kidnapping or rape. He said they were in another car and were flagged down by two other men who had already kidnapped the woman and had her in their car.
The kidnappers told Bundy and Callier to follow them. The victim was taken to a secluded location on the city's South Side and gang-raped at gunpoint, police said. Some of her personal belongings, including a watch, were taken during the assault, which accounts for the robbery charges.
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