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Suspect arrested after chase through woods
Photo
Duniek Christian
By Jeanne Starmack
YOUNGSTOWN
A man wanted on warrants over a 2005 gunbattle with police was arrested after a chase through woods on the East Side.
Duniek Christian, 26, whose last known address was on Garland Avenue, was taken to the Mahoning County jail Wednesday along with two other men arrested in the chase, said John Elberty of the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force. Elberty also is commander of the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team. Those two agencies, along with Youngstown Police Department’s canine team, made the arrests.
Christian faces three charges of felonious assault and one of aggravated robbery in the July 1, 2005, case. He’s accused of driving a stolen car with three other men in it through the East Side while they shot at seven police officers.
The car had been stolen at gunpoint from a church secretary.
The two men arrested with Christian in the woods near Myron Avenue and Jacobs Road are Jean Martinez, 27, of Youngstown and Jayson Rodriguez, 23, of Buffalo, N.Y. Martinez was wanted on a federal probation violation for heroin possession and will be turned over to federal authorities. Rodriguez faces a charge of obstructing official business, Elberty said.
Elberty said the chase began around 8 a.m. Police had Christian, Martinez and Rodriguez under surveillance while they were parked in a driveway on Northwood Avenue. When police started closing in on them, Christian drove through a wooden fence onto Karl Street. He drove to Myron Avenue, where he and the others got out of the car and fled into the woods. Martinez and Rodriguez were caught early in the chase, Elberty said, and Christian was found at 11:30 a.m.
Elberty said police had been searching for Christian since May and got word last week that he was back in the area.
The warrants on him were issued in April.
Christian already was tried once in the 2005 case in August 2008, but was released after the jury deadlocked on whether he was guilty of complicity to felonious assault.
The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s office appealed the decision of Judge James C. Evans of common-pleas court that Christian could not be retried after the deadlock.
The 7th District Court of Appeals ruled Judge Evans erred. In March of this year, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to review an appeal by Christian, leaving the appellate court’s ruling intact. The prosecutor’s office was then free to retry the case.
Two other men in the car during the gunbattle were convicted. Jumal Edwards, 26, of Woodcrest Avenue and Craig Franklin Jr., 21, of Glenwood avenue were sentenced to 97 and 105 years in prison, respectively. Charges were dismissed against a fourth suspect.