Trial postponed for more DNA testing

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — The capital murder trial of Bennie L. Adams has been postponed from May 5 to Aug. 11 to allow time for additional DNA and fingerprint testing and evaluation of statements Adams is purported to have made to various people, including a probation officer.

Judge Timothy E. Franken of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will conduct the trial, granted a defense request for postponement at a 90-minute pretrial hearing Friday. The prosecution agreed to the postponement.

Adams, 50, of Hollywood Avenue, was linked to the death of Gina Tenney, a 19-year-old Youngstown State University student, by DNA evidence gathered from Tenney’s body at the time of her death in 1985 and DNA collected from Adams. Tenney’s body was found floating in the Mahoning River near the West Avenue bridge Dec. 30, 1985, the day after her strangulation death.

Adams is charged with aggravated murder with a death penalty specification, rape, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and kidnapping. Adams and Tenney were neighbors in an Ohio Avenue duplex.