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Another delay sought in Tate murder case
Exclusion of the defendant’s confession to police is still being disputed.
YOUNGSTOWN — The prosecution has filed yet another appeal in the capital murder case of Terrance Tate, the man charged in the fatal beating of an infant, this time asking the appellate court to delay Tate’s trial, which is set to begin Nov. 10.
On Friday, the Mahoning County prosecutor’s office appealed an Oct. 14 order from the trial judge to the 7th District Court of Appeals.
The prosecution alleges that Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will preside over the trial, erred by declining to vacate an earlier order from Judge John M. Durkin that Tate’s confession to police was inadmissible as trial evidence.
Tate, 23, of Hilton Avenue, is accused of killing his girlfriend’s son, Javonte Covington, on his first birthday in April 2006.
The Friday filing came just one day after the appeals judges rejected earlier appeals from both the prosecution and defense in this case.
In requesting the stay, prosecutors told the appellate court: “Time is of the essence. Once the state begins trial, the trial cannot pause for an appeal.”
Judge Durkin suppressed Tate’s confession because the judge said police failed to warn Tate of his right to remain silent before they questioned him about the infant’s injuries while he was in police custody. Judge Durkin’s decision was upheld by the 7th District Court of Appeals.
The prosecution maintains it has new evidence that Tate and his mother colluded to defraud Judge Durkin’s court at the suppression hearing. Tate told a fellow jail inmate that Tate and his mother worked out a plan to get his confession suppressed, prosecutors said.
Tate admitted to the inmate that his mother agreed to testify at the hearing that she was held against her will, thus compelling Tate to turn himself in to police, prosecutors said. However, Tate told his fellow inmate that he actually went voluntarily to the police station, prosecutors added.
“The only way to determine whether to suppress the confession on the merits is to revisit the issue. Consequently, the trial court should have vacated Judge Durkin’s suppression order and set the matter for rehearing,” prosecutors argued in their appeal.
In his ruling, Judge Krichbaum noted that the appellate court had already unanimously affirmed Judge Durkin’s suppression of Tate’s confession to police. “This court has no authority to change the rulings of the Court of Appeals,” Judge Krichbaum ruled.
In another Friday filing in this case, defense lawyers asked Judge Krichbaum to move Tate’s trial to another county because of extensive pretrial publicity here. Attached to their motion were copies of 25 Vindicator stories on the Tate case.