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Suspect to be held without bond
New evidence supports bond revocation, prosecution argues.
YOUNGSTOWN — Terrance Tate, who is charged with beating a baby to death in April 2006, will be jailed without bond until the judge who will preside over his trial can decide what bond, if any, is now appropriate.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court said Tate is to be held without bond until Judge John M. Durkin can hold a hearing and decide the matter.
At the prosecution’s request, Judge Krichbaum, the court’s administrative judge, conducted Friday’s bond hearing because Judge Durkin was on vacation.
Tate, 23, of Hilton Avenue, faces an aggravated murder charge in the fatal beating of Javonte Covington on his first birthday.
At the request of the defense, Judge Durkin reduced Tate’s bond July 8 from $150,000 to $75,000, saying he’d be on electronically monitored house arrest with strict conditions if he makes bond.
The prosecution sought to revoke Tate’s bond because it said it acquired newly discovered evidence against him in the form of a confession Tate made in a May 21, 2006, telephone call from the county jail, where he is being held, to his mother.
In the call, he told his mother he took the blame for the baby’s injuries thinking he was only facing an assault charge. Tate also said he didn’t know that Javonte had died until he was jailed.
Tate’s lawyer, John B. Juhasz, said the matter of bond didn’t warrant emergency consideration because Judge Durkin is expected back at the courthouse Monday. “There’s simply no reason for this court to exercise jurisdiction,” Juhasz told Judge Krichbaum.
But Martin P. Desmond, assistant county prosecutor, said the new evidence, which strengthens the prosecution’s case, increases the likelihood Tate will flee from a trial, in which he faces the death penalty, if he is released on bond. “We have a new confession. There’s no reason for him to stay,” Desmond argued.
“The information that the state has presented today is new information that Judge Durkin should consider,” Judge Krichbaum said.
The prosecution is appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court the exclusion from evidence of Tate’s confession to police, which the prosecution had said was critical to its case.
Judge Durkin and the 7th District Court of Appeals ruled that confession inadmissible as evidence in Tate’s trial.
While Tate was in their custody, police improperly failed to warn him of his right to remain silent before they questioned him about Javonte’s injuries, the appeals court ruled.
milliken@vindy.com