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Man convicted of murder to be retried
Photo
George Kafantaris
LISBON — The 7th District Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of murder who was represented by a now- disbarred lawyer.
Andrew Irwin had been convicted of stabbing Emily Foreman to death over drugs in Liverpool Township.
Atty. George Kafantaris of Warren was permanently disbarred by the Ohio Supreme Court on April 1, 2009, for misappropriating clients’ funds and other acts of misconduct.
In a call to police in the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2006, a person who said he was “Andy” said there had been a stabbing. He told police that a woman had attacked him.
Foreman had been stabbed multiple times, including in the lungs, but was able to talk to police before she was taken to East Liverpool City Hospital, where she died.
Both she and Irwin were involved with drugs, officials said.
During the trial and in following hearings, Kafantaris presented several versions of what may have happened, including a man who claimed another man had confessed that he had committed the crime.
Appeals Court Judge Gene Donofrio wrote in his 42-page opinion that Kafantaris’ numerous errors throughout the trial and a motion for a new trial resulted in “both ineffective assistance of counsel and cumulative error wanting reversal.”
Judge Donofrio wrote, “Each error when viewed in isolation may not have prejudiced [Irwin’s] rights had each occurred in an otherwise fair trial.”
But he added that the appeals court was convinced that because of the many errors, Irwin did not get a fair trial because of his lawyer.
Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron, who tried the case, said he was reviewing the opinion and would decide whether he would appeal it to the state Supreme Court.
wilkinson@vindy.com