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Defendant says due process rights being violated
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A suspect in an April homicide told a judge in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Monday that he thinks his due process rights are being violated.
Jermaine Bunn, 39, told Judge John M. Durkin he’s upset because he is being held on a parole violation as well as murder charges, yet he has never received an official notice of being in violation of his parole.
“I don’t understand how having a hold on me is messing with my due process rights,” Bunn said.
Unlike most murder defendants, Bunn has not yet waived the time to have his case heard by a jury, which is 90 days from the time he is arrested.
Bunn was arrested April 4 in connection with the April 3 murder of Michael Pete, 30, who was shot outside a party on East Evergreen Avenue.
Police said Bunn was wounded in the face in the same incident.
But being held on a parole violation does not count against the time needed to bring Bunn to trial within his 90 day time limit, so he can be held past the time it would take him to go trial.
Bunn’s attorney, Ed Hartwig, also said other than a notice in jail records that Bunn is jailed on a parole violation, he has not received any official notice from the Adult Parole Authority that his client violated parole.
Judge Durkin said that even if there is no parole hold on Bunn, he is still within the 90-day period to be tried with no waiver.
Assistant Prosecutor Meghan Brundege also said that prosecutors still are awaiting the results of gunshot-residue tests performed on Bunn after the shooting and a report on Pete’s autopsy, and both of those items also are needed for Bunn’s defense.
Judge Durkin suggested setting a hearing for next week, and he asked prosecutors to find out the status of the tests and reports they need as well as finding out if an official parole violation has been lodged against Bunn.
Bunn had been released from prison just 48 hours before he is accused of shooting Pete.
Court records show Bunn was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to seven years in prison in December 2009 after pleading guilty to charges of felonious assault and kidnapping.