Judge denies new trial in murder case

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — A judge’s denial of a new trial for a man who claimed someone else had committed murder came as no surprise to the prosecution.

Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike on Wednesday denied a new trial for Andrew Irwin. John Gamble, an assistant Columbiana County prosecutor, said he was not surprised.

Robert Herron, the county prosecutor, said Judge Pike reached a decision based on the evidence and common sense.

Irwin, 25, was convicted earlier this year in the stabbing death of Emily Foreman at her Liverpool Township home Aug. 23, 2006. Police said they believed Irwin had killed her to get drugs.

But Irwin’s defense lawyer, George Kafantaris of Warren, contended — as the jury was returning with a guilty verdict for Irwin— that someone else had confessed the crime.

Judge Pike sentenced Irwin to 15 years to life in prison.

Kafantaris said Lindzay Jason Beaver of East Liverpool contended that another man, Gregory Todd of East Liverpool, had confessed the killing. The confession to Beaver supposedly came as a surprise at Beaver’s then-East Liverpool apartment.

Changing the story

In a later hearing, Todd testified that he had not killed the woman.

Judge Pike wrote that the entire theory for the motion for a new trial rested on Todd’s alleged confession.

The judge said he found Todd’s testimony “most reliable.”

Beaver and Todd took polygraph tests. The judge noted that the test for Beaver showed he was not telling the truth when he said Todd admitted the murder.

Todd’s test, in denying he committed the murder, showed he was telling the truth.

The testimony during the hearings for a new trial was often stormy. Judge Pike found the defense lawyer in contempt but has taken no action.

Gamble said he and Herron and investigators put in as much time dealing with the motion for a new trial as the trial itself.

Herron could not estimate the cost of the investigation. He said his office began investigating the day after the allegations were made.

“I think justice has been done,” he said.

wilkinson@vindy.com