2002 murder case returns to appeals court
COLUMBUS
In a 7-0 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court has sent the Christopher Anderson murder case back to the 7th District Court of Appeals to consider the merits of Anderson’s appeal.
Anderson, of Austintown, is protesting an indictment that could bring about his sixth trial before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Anderson is charged in the June 3, 2002, strangulation death of 22-year-old Amber Zurcher in her Austintown apartment.
Two of Anderson’s trials ended in a hung jury, and two others ended in a mistrial while a trial was underway.
Anderson, 46, of South Main Street, was convicted in his second trial and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, but the 7th District Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, citing “cumulative error” in the trial.
In Wednesday’s decision, the top court ruled the 7th District Court has the authority to review Judge Evans’ February 2011 refusal to dismiss the indictment on double-jeopardy grounds.
A sixth trial would violate due process and the constitutional ban on double jeopardy, argued Anderson’s lawyer, John B. Juhasz, in his motion to dismiss the murder charge and free Anderson from county jail.
But prosecutors said Juhasz failed to cite “any controlling case law that requires the state to dismiss after a certain number of trials.”
In the recent chain of events, the defense appealed Judge Evans’ refusal to dismiss the case to the 7th District Court.
By a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel of that appeals court denied a prosecution request to dismiss the appeal.
The prosecution then asked all four 7th District appeals judges to consider the matter, but they deadlocked 2-2, leaving the three-judge panel’s ruling intact and allowing the appeal to proceed.
Ralph Rivera, an assistant county prosecutor, appealed to the state’s top court, saying Judge Evans’ decision was not a final appealable order.
Juhasz argued the top court lacked jurisdiction because the 7th District Court simply ruled that the appeal may proceed, but hadn’t decided the case.