Murder case ends in a mistrial

By Peter H. Milliken

More than two full days of deliberations failed to produce a verdict.

YOUNGSTOWN — A hung jury has resulted in a mistrial in a 6-year-old murder case involving the strangulation of a young woman in her Austintown apartment.

The seven-woman, five-man jury began deliberating the fate of Christopher Anderson on Monday afternoon, and deliberated all day Tuesday and Wednesday before the jury foreman told Judge James C. Evans late Wednesday afternoon that there was no possibility that further deliberations would produce a verdict.

Anderson, 41, of South Main Street, Austintown, was on trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for the June 2002 slaying of 22-year-old Amber Zurcher in her Compass West apartment. The trial began Dec. 8.

Late Wednesday morning, Judge Evans instructed the jurors that they should re-evaluate their positions and consider it desirable that they reach a verdict.

Dawn Cantalamessa, assistant county prosecutor, said she “definitely” intends to retry the case. “The evidence is still pretty strong,” she said.

Anderson had been convicted of murdering Zurcher in a November 2003 jury trial, after which Judge Evans sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison.

However, the 7th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in September 2006, citing “cumulative error” in that trial.

Anderson was one of several people who attended a party in Zurcher’s apartment. After everyone else left, Anderson returned and strangled Zurcher with a cord, prosecutors said.

Anderson’s DNA was found under Zurcher’s fingernails and she had a bite wound on her left breast.

At the time of Zurcher’s death, Anderson was on probation for a previous conviction on charges of failure to obey a police order and two counts of negligent assault.

Even before the trial in which Anderson was convicted, Judge Evans granted a defense motion for a mistrial in this case in May 2003 because of “an unsolicited comment” from a witness. “No corrective instruction directed to the jury could overcome the weight of the improper comment,” the judge ruled.

In the trial that ended Wednesday with a hung jury, Cantalamessa was assisted by Natasha Frenchko and James MacDonald, assistant county prosecutors.

The defense lawyers were John Juhasz and David Gerchak.