Youngstown man convicted of rape

The girl was raped in a pickup truck in a Boardman cemetery.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — After deliberating for 31‚Ñ2 hours, a nine-man, three-woman jury convicted a 27-year-old city man of two counts of raping a 12-year-old female relative, but the panel acquitted him of a third rape count.

The jury returned its verdict late Monday against Michael Zechar, of Compton Lane, in the courtroom of Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. The trial began last Tuesday.

Zechar, who raped the girl in his pickup truck in a Boardman cemetery after giving her alcohol and pills, faces three to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced at a later date.

Based on the seriousness of the offenses, Judge Durkin revoked Zechar’s $50,000 bond and ordered him jailed pending sentencing.

The girl told police that Zechar gave her a soft drink mixed with rum and two pills he said were over-the-counter pain relievers.

An hour after drinking the mixture and taking the pills on May 5, 2007, she began feeling “unusual,” the victim later told police.

That evening, Zechar asked her to ride with him to a store, and she agreed, the girl told police. Instead of going to a store, Zechar drove her directly to Lake Park Cemetery, where he attacked her, and her attempts to fight him off were unsuccessful, the victim told police.

When they returned to Zechar’s residence, the girl said she began to lose consciousness and remembered nothing more until she woke up in St. Elizabeth Health Center, where she had been taken by ambulance.

Police interviewed the girl at the hospital, where she had been treated for an overdose.

Boardman police arrested Zechar after interviewing him. At the end of that interview, Zechar admitted being sexually involved with the girl, police said.

Mark Bedenik, of Lowellville, jury foreman, said that admission to police was instrumental in the jury’s decision to convict Zechar.

Natasha K. Frenchko, assistant county prosecutor, said Zechar’s DNA was found on the girl, and the girl’s DNA was found inside his underwear.

Defense lawyer John Jeffrey Limbian declined to comment after the verdict was read.