Drug trafficker asks for new trial

Lyndal Kimble could be looking at more than 13 years in prison.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A convicted drug dealer is asking the court for a new trial.
Atty. Richard Olivito, who represents Lyndal Kimble, 30, of Warren, filed a motion Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court stating his client was denied a fair trial.
Kimble was convicted last month on eight counts of drug trafficking and one count of cocaine possession. The jury acquitted him on a count of aggravated possession.
Olivito's motion states that the trial was unfair because a detective testified about a statement allegedly made by his client and that the prosecutor failed to tell him in advance that the statement would be made during the trial.
Olivito further stated in the motion that one of the counts in the original indictment was false.
"The original indictment contained a seriously misleading connotation that the defendant was or had been charged with a wrong charge containing a substance which the facts of the case did not support and was specifically disproved by the state's own expert testimony," the motion states.
The motion further notes that the indictment was amended, but Olivito contends the court should not have allowed the indictment to be amended since the trial had already started.
Olivito further argued in his motion that the court erred by not allowing him to present several defense witnesses.
Diane Barber, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor who handled the case, said she has not received a copy of the motion so she was unable to comment.
Judge W. Wyatt McKay, who presided over the trial, will rule on the motion. Judge McKay could not be reached to comment.
Possible sentences
Kimble has not yet been sentenced. He could face up to 18 months on each of the charges, making for a total possible sentence of 131/2 years.
Kimble also faces sentencing on a unrelated charge. He pleaded guilty Feb. 15 to tampering with evidence and cocaine possession, both felonies, as a trial on those charges was about to begin. He faces one to three years in prison on those charges, which stem from a June 2003 arrest.
Kimble's June 2003 arrest received national attention over his allegation of police brutality. That traffic stop and arrest were videotaped by a bystander and then shown to local and national broadcast networks. Warren police said Kimble swallowed a small amount of suspected drugs before resisting the officers, who were trying to get him to spit out the evidence.
Kimble has filed a federal lawsuit contending that his constitutional rights were violated when he was arrested. The lawsuit is pending.
sinkovich@vindy.com