Arraignments today for man who bounced checks and man facing mouth duct-taped

YOUNGSTOWN — A man whose mouth a judge ordered taped shut and another man charged with bouncing rent checks for a bar he operated and with testifying untruthfully about the disposition of an elderly woman’s assets pleaded innocent at their arraignments.

Duniek Christian, 26, of North Garland Avenue, entered his innocent plea without incident to a charge of failure to comply with a police order when he appeared today before Magistrate Dominic DeLaurentis of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The charge, for which he was indicted Jan. 6, stems from a Nov. 10 police pursuit in which Christian was apprehended. DeLaurentis continued Christian’s $50,000 bond in this matter.

Appearing with Atty. David Gerchak, Christian exhibited none of the disruptive behavior for which Judge Elizabeth Kobly of Youngstown Municipal Court found him in contempt of court on Jan. 7.

Judge Kobly sentenced Christian to 30 days in jail for each time she said he was disorderly or disrespectful to the court when he appeared before her on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing official business and a traffic charge.

By the time Judge Kobly ordered him removed from her court, Christian had been sentenced to 230 days in jail for contempt.

Judge Kobly ordered that Christian not return to her court until his mouth was duct-taped shut.

An American Civil Liberties Union spokesman said he would prefer that Christian appear by video from jail if he won’t behave in court.

Christian awaits retrial on felonious assault charges stemming from a 2005 rolling gunbattle with police on the city’s East Side after a jury deadlocked in that case.

The new failure to comply charge was assigned to Judge James C. Evans, who will preside over the retrial of the 2005 case.

In another matter, David J. Venerose Jr., 40, of Sheridan Road, pleaded innocent to one count of passing bad checks and three counts of perjury.

His lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, asked the magistrate to set bond at $10,000, with 10 percent acceptable.

“He is not a risk of flight, nor is he a danger to the community,” Ingram said, adding that Venerose appeared for arraignment as scheduled.

For the complete story, read Thursday's Vindicator and Vindy.com