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Suspect’s statement ruled inadmissible
YOUNGSTOWN
A visiting judge has ruled a statement made to police by a Canfield physician charged with raping a female patient is inadmissible in his trial.
The ruling was filed last week by visiting Judge Thomas J. Pokorny of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the case of Dr. Larry Lee Smith, who is charged with raping the patient during an office visit Oct. 4, 2010.
“A false promise was made to the defendant that, if he admitted consensual sex with his patient, it would not be considered a crime,” Judge Pokorny wrote in his decision.
“These false representations undermined Smith’s capacity for self- determination and impaired his decision to make incriminating statements,” the judge wrote.
Judge Pokorny noted police repeatedly made the erroneous statement to the doctor during the 1-hour-and-13-minute interrogation, which was recorded secretly at the Canfield police station.
Canfield Police Detective Brian McGivern, who conducted and recorded the Oct. 8, 2010, interrogation, has admitted he was mistaken as to the law, the judge noted.
Under questioning by detectives, Dr. Smith, 72, asked the detectives: “Is that what you want to hear, that it was consensual?” and then admitted sexual contact with the patient, the judge wrote.
The questioning was conducted in a booking room, where police did not offer Dr. Smith a seat or warn him of his constitutional right to remain silent, but the doctor was not threatened or handcuffed, Judge Pokorny noted.
The judge’s ruling was in response to a motion by defense lawyer Mark Hanni that the statement be excluded from evidence because it was improperly obtained.
Nicholas Brevetta, an assistant county prosecutor, did not respond to a request for comment as to whether the prosecution can effectively proceed to trial without Dr. Smith’s statement.
Detective McGivern and Canfield Police Chief Chuck Colucci also did not respond to requests to comment.
There is a 10 a.m. May 2 pretrial hearing scheduled in Dr. Smith’s case before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney.