TRUMBULL COUNTY Defense lets client submit to polygraph

The defense attorney said DNA testing has excluded her client.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A defense attorney for a former police academy student facing death-penalty charges says she agreed to allow prosecutors to have one of their experts give her client a polygraph test.
The test was given to Gentry Freeman on Wednesday afternoon, according to Atty. Sarah Kovoor. She said additional testing may be done Monday.
She declined to discuss the preliminary results.
Charles Morrow, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor assigned to the case, could not be reached to comment.
"I agreed to this test because he was given a polygraph by an expert we chose," Kovoor said. "I don't want to say what those results were, but I wouldn't have gone forward with this test if I didn't feel comfortable."
About the case
A Trumbull County grand jury indicted Freeman, 23, of Allenwood Southeast, Howland, in May 2002 on charges of aggravated murder and kidnapping. Freeman, who attended a police academy in Niles in 2001, pleaded innocent.
Freeman is accused of stabbing Denise Angelo, 35, more than 40 times and leaving her body in a wooded area off North Road Southeast on April 26, 2002. The Howland High School graduate is being held in the county jail without bond.
Shortly after Freeman's arrest in 2002, defense attorneys said there were rumors that police were investigating the possibility of a second suspect. Police declined to confirm the rumors and no other arrests have been made.
Kovoor, however, said DNA testing has excluded Freeman.
"They tested tissue under her fingernails and other body fluid, and Gentry has been excluded," Kovoor said.
The 35-year-old Warren woman was stabbed in the face, neck, chest and abdomen, with some wounds inflicted after she was dead, according to an affidavit filed with the court by the prosecutor's office.
In affidavit
Freeman told police he assaulted Angelo, but he denied stabbing her, the affidavit states.
According to the affidavit, Freeman told police he was driving on Atlantic Street around 3 a.m. April 22 or April 23. He said Angelo got in his car while he was stopped at a traffic light and asked for a ride to the Park Inn in Niles.
Freeman said that when the two got near North Road Elementary School on North Road, he told her to get out of his car. He said that she yelled at him and he left, the affidavit said.
Freeman also told police he came back to the area, saw Angelo, and she continued to yell at him. He said he punched her several times, she became unconscious and he left the area, the affidavit states.
Police said Freeman told them that he called 911 on April 26 to report that someone dumped something in the area where Angelo's body was located.
When police did not arrive, Freeman called back to say he saw a body in the ditch.
sinkovich@vindy.com