MAHONING COUNTY Continual rape trial delays frustrate victims' families

Davis has changed his plea three times and is on his fourth attorney.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The file on a 5-year-old rape case against Enrico Davis sits in the basement of the Mahoning County Courthouse, behind a locked door in a room some court clerks call the "Dungeon."
The room is filled with shelves, cardboard boxes, and red cabinets overstuffed with case files. Exposed pipes and a large air duct run across the ceiling of the room, which is colder than the rest of the courthouse in the winter.
On top of one of the cabinets, near a discarded latex glove and in a pile of five or six plain manila folders, is the Davis file. It contains papers describing Davis' 1999 rape indictment by a county grand jury, as well as several pages stating that the trial date has been rescheduled.
Court records show Davis' trial on the 1999 rape charge has been postponed 22 times.
Other court records show that his trial on a 2001 rape charge has been re-scheduled 20 times. A motion to postpone the trial for the 21st time was filed Wednesday in county common pleas court by Davis' attorney, Douglas Taylor.
"How could he slip through the system?" asked the mother of a girl who police said is one of Davis' victims.
The girl's mother and grandmother both said they're frustrated by the postponements.
"You just can't keep getting away with something like that," the grandmother said. "It's about justice."
Accusations
Davis, of Fountain Square in Austintown, is accused of forcing a 10-year-old girl he knew to perform sex acts several times over a three-month period in 1998 and 1999. He was indicted on a rape charge in February 1999.
In 2001, while free on $50,000 bond, Davis was arrested by Austintown police, accused of raping a 12-year-old girl who was his neighbor. Officers said they found him asleep in the bed of the girl's mother.
A county grand jury indicted Davis on charges of aggravated burglary and three counts of felony rape. He has remained in jail since his 2001 arrest.
If found guilty in either of the cases, Davis could be sentenced to life in prison. Judge Robert Lisotto is presiding over both cases.
Retired Austintown Police Lt. Joe Giampietro, who investigated the Davis cases, said the number of postponements was "ridiculous."
"Four or five [postponements] is a lot, but I think we could put up with it," Giampietro said. But 20 postponements, "that's somebody dragging their feet," he said.
Waived right to speedy trial
Dawn Krueger, assistant county prosecutor, said the Davis cases have been postponed because other cases need to be tried first. Under Ohio law, a person charged with a crime must be brought to trial within 270 days of his or her arrest, unless he or she signs a waiver agreeing to extend that time.
Davis signed waivers allowing his trials to be put off indefinitely.
"I'd love to take it to trial as soon as I could," Krueger said. "It's a matter of getting in line, but there's all these cases that push us aside.
"A lot of these murders take precedence over us," she said.
Krueger noted that prosecutors want to try the 2001 case first because it is stronger than the 1999 case.
Court records show that prosecutors and defense attorneys asked for many of the postponements because they had to appear in court on other cases. Krueger is the only assistant prosecutor in the county assigned to trials for sex crimes and felony domestic violence, and she is handling between 75 and 100 cases.
Taylor said he has 170 open cases. He filed the latest request for a postponement so he could serve as the attorney in a murder trial.
Judge Lisotto also delayed the Davis cases 10 times so he could preside over other cases, three of which were civil lawsuits. He could not be reached to comment.
Changing attorneys
The Davis trials also were postponed several times to give attorneys who were new to his cases more time to prepare. Taylor is the fourth attorney to represent Davis.
"That delays things because I come on board, and I'm brand new, I have to start at square one," said Taylor, who was appointed to serve as Davis' attorney in June 2003.
In addition, the 2001 case also was postponed because Davis changed his pleas three times. He first plead innocent, only to later change his plea to innocent by reason of insanity.
On May 12, 2003, Davis pleaded guilty to all charges in exchange for the prosecution's recommending that he be sentenced to 20 years in jail, instead of life.
A month later, Davis' attorney made a motion to withdraw the guilty plea. Judge Lisotto granted the motion.
Krueger said she believes Davis has been manipulating the system to delay facing life in jail.
Taylor, however, stressed that Davis and his attorneys have simply been trying to present the best defense against the charges.
"This guy's looking at the rest of his life, and that's a mighty long time," he said. "The wheels of justice just don't work quickly."
Victim's family
Taylor added that he sympathizes with the frustration expressed by the families of the girls Davis is accused of raping.
"I know if I was in their position, I'd be going through the roof," he said.
Those sentiments provide little comfort to the mother and grandmother of one of the girls, however. They said they couldn't understand how court officials could allow so many postponements, and they questioned the prosecutor's commitment to the Davis cases.
Both the mother and the grandmother added that they want to see Davis convicted as soon as possible. The mother said she was concerned that Davis would be released from jail because of the delays in his trials, and that he would try to find her daughter.
"I do not want him to approach her in any way," she said. "I'm hoping justice is served, he's found guilty."
The mother said that after the assault, her daughter distrusted men and boys. The girl went through therapy, and is now a "typical teenager" who doesn't want others to know she is a rape victim, the mother said.
"She doesn't want to be singled out," her mother said. The grandmother added, "She's very sensitive about that."
The family moved from Austintown after the rape, and the mother said she has talked to her daughter and explained why she plans to continue to fight to see Davis convicted.
"I had a talk with her to let her know, I'm not going to let it go," she said. "I'm going to fight this."
hill@vindy.com