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Appeals court upholds DNA re-test denial
YOUNGSTOWN
A three-judge panel of the 7th District Court of Appeals has unanimously upheld a trial judge’s denial of a request for new DNA testing by a man convicted in an Aug. 21, 2001, kidnapping, robbery and rape, and sentenced to 89 years in prison.
The appeals court upheld a Nov. 4, 2014, decision by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, who presided over the 2002 trial and imposed the sentence, to deny Chaz Bunch’s post-conviction request for the new testing.
The request was made on Bunch’s behalf by a lawyer for the Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati College of Law on the basis a new test might find another man’s DNA in the rape kit that could exonerate Bunch.
Judge Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court found that DNA testing would not change the outcome of the case because Bunch was identified by eyewitness and co-defendant testimony and other evidence.
Judge Krichbaum noted that Bunch was convicted even though he was excluded as the source of semen taken from the victim.
The 21-year-old victim was carjacked at gunpoint as she arrived for work at a Detroit Avenue group home on Youngstown’s South Side.
Bunch, who was one of four defendants in the case, drew maximum consecutive prison terms after being convicted of aggravated robbery, kidnapping and three counts each of rape and complicity to rape, with firearm specifications.
Bunch, now 30, was 16 when the crimes were committed. He is in the Toledo Correctional Institution.
The decision was written by Judge Carol Ann Robb, with Judges Gene Donofrio and Cheryl L. Waite concurring.
Bunch’s co-defendants and their prison sentences were: Brandon Moore, 112 years; Andre Bundy, 18 years; and Jamar Callier, seven years.
The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear Moore’s appeal of his sentence on the grounds it is unconstitutional because its length makes it cruel and unusual punishment for crimes committed when he was only 15.