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Judge hears motions in death penalty case
By joe gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Judge John Durkin granted a defense motion to stay DNA testing for a man accused of killing a woman in October.
Judge Durkin ruled during a pretrial hearing Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation should not test DNA samples in the case of 51-year-old David Hackett, and instead that prosecutors and defense attorneys should decide on a lab that can perform the tests for both sides.
The reason for the defense motion is that some of the samples that are to be tested could be destroyed by the testing process, said one of Hackett’s attorneys, Lynn Maro.
She said if BCI did the testing and destroyed the samples, then defense attorneys would not be able to have their own expert examine them.
Hackett, of New York Avenue on the North Side, is charged with aggravated murder in the death of 30-year-old Collena Carpenter of Homeworth in Columbiana County. Her body was found early Oct. 14 near an access road to the Mahoning River near West Avenue.
Carpenter was stabbed more than 60 times, according to reports. Hackett could face the death penalty if convicted of Carpenter’s death.
Hackett was a suspect in the homicide and was interviewed by police twice the week that Carpenter’s body was found before he was taken into custody by the Adult Parole Authority on a parole violation. He was then charged with Carpenter’s death.
Police have not yet released a motive for the killing.
Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa told Judge Durkin that testing is still being done on several cellphones connected to the case and there are lots of DNA samples to go through, including on clothing, a car and the home Hackett lived in.
Cantalamessa said the coroner’s report is not yet completed on the case because of the number of stab wounds that need to be documented.
Lou DeFabio, another Hackett lawyer, said the phones being tested belong to Hackett, Carpenter and Hackett’s girlfriend.
Maro said that in the past, defense attorneys and prosecutors have used other labs for joint testing. Cantalamessa said BCI does not allow defense attorneys access to its labs.
Judge Durkin instructed both sides to come up with a lab they can agree on.
Hackett served a prison sentence for a 1978 homicide he committed as a 16-year-old. He has other convictions in other states, including Pennsylvania.