AUSTINTOWN Woman demands trial on falsification charge

Her lawyer says the $100,000 bond is excessive.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- A woman who is charged with falsely accusing a township police officer of rape has demanded a jury trial, and the court is considering whether to reduce her bond.
Louis DeFabio, court-appointed attorney for Charmin Merchant, 34, asked Mahoning County Court Judge Scott Hunter during a pretrial Monday to reduce Merchant's bond from $100,000.
Mahoning County Court Judge Diane Vettori had set the bond June 19 and also ordered that Merchant not be released early because of jail overcrowding.
DeFabio said the bond was excessive since his client was charged with a misdemeanor, particularly one that has no allegation of violence. He said he was representing a murder suspect who has a lower bond.
He also said that she has no criminal record and that media attention to the case may prejudice a potential jury pool.
"If someone has a $100,000 bond," he said "they did something really, really bad. That filters out to the jury pool."
Missed appearances
Merchant missed two court appearances, one June 5 and one June 12. Police discovered she was in the hospital June 12. The court had issued a warrant for her arrest after her nonappearance June 5, so she was arrested upon her release from the hospital June 15. She has been in jail ever since, refusing a plea agreement offered by the prosecutor's office.
Her $2,000 bond was forfeited by a bonding company.
Kenneth Cardinal, an assistant county prosecutor, argued that the high bond is not to punish Merchant before her guilt or innocence is determined but to ensure her appearance in court.
Judge Hunter said he would take the issue of her bond under advisement.
Merchant reported to police Feb. 15 that an officer with whom she'd had a romantic relationship raped her and hit her in her hotel room at the Fairfield Inn on Canfield-Niles Road.
After an investigation with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, police concluded that she was not telling the truth. She was charged with two counts of falsification.