WARREN Prosecution: Judge should stay with case

By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A judge should not have to remove himself from presiding over a case in which a county probation officer is a witness, an assistant prosecutor says.
A brief filed by Charles Morrow, an assistant county prosecutor, says the lawyer representing Gentry Freeman did not state any specific case law to support her request to have Judge Andrew Logan remove himself from the aggravated-murder case.
"There is nothing in the record which reflects that the court cannot be impartial," Morrow's brief states. "To the contrary, there is evidence that the court can indeed be impartial. The court is aware that it has not blindly followed every recommendation made by probation officers. Indeed, the court has handed down sentences which are contrary to those prepared by the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department."
Here are concerns
Atty. Sarah Kovoor, who is representing Freeman, 24, of Allenwood, Howland, believes a visiting judge who does not know probation officer Vince Peterson should hear the case.
Judge Logan is considering the request.
Morrow's motion also states that if the judge would have to remove himself from this case, then the court would create the precedent of having judges remove themselves from all matters in which probation officers are called to testify, including probation violations.
Freeman faces charges of aggravated murder and kidnapping. He is accused of the stabbing death of Denise Angelo, 35, of Warren, last April. Her body was found near a creek off North Road.
A day after police found Angelo, someone called Peterson, a Freeman family friend, and asked Peterson to talk to Gentry Freeman. Peterson went to the home to talk to Freeman, then asked him to go with him to the city police station.
Freeman is being held in the county jail without bond. He told police he assaulted Angelo but denied stabbing her.