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Rafidi sentencing postponed
CLEVELAND
A federal judge has postponed the sentencing of George Rafidi, who was convicted of assaulting federal officers in an armed confrontation at his Lordstown residence, until the judge rules on Rafidi’s motion for a new trial.
The sentencing had been scheduled for today before U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan.
After a two-day trial, a jury convicted Rafidi, 60, of Lords- town, on April 2.
Rafidi’s motion for a new trial is based on the failure of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, to share with the defense before the trial the results of a three-dimensional laser scan that mapped Rafidi’s home.
The new scanning technology is designed to help analyze bullet trajectories.
The motion also is based on accounts of witnesses who said they saw a juror asleep during a large portion of the trial.
On April 3, Rafidi’s lawyer, Mark H. Allenbaugh, requested that David M. Toepfer, an assistant U.S. attorney, share with the defense the 3-D map referred to in the trial testimony of Dan Boerner, an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent.
In an April 6 e-mailed response that is part of the public case file, Toepfer said he would provide a copy of the map to the defense, but Toepfer said the map “does not contain any evidence that is exculpatory, inculpatory or mitigating.”
The defense received the map May 19.
In the Oct. 8 confrontation, Rafidi twice pointed a .357-caliber revolver at the officers before Lordstown Detective Christopher Bordonaro fired several shots at Rafidi, according to Daniel K. DeVille, a deputy U.S. marshal who filed an affidavit and testified in a detention hearing.
Rafidi retreated into his home before emerging and surrendering shortly thereafter, DeVille testified.
The confrontation occurred as federal agents served a search warrant at Rafidi’s residence in connection with a food-stamp fraud investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, DeVille testified.
Rafidi was the owner of the Breaden Market, a convenience store on Youngstown’s South Side.
Rafidi, who was awakened by the agents, was not hit by the gunfire.
However, a USDA agent, who jumped off Rafidi’s porch during the confrontation, injured his shoulder. Nobody else was hurt.
Rafidi remains in federal custody.