Jurors side with prosecutors: Hackett guilty of murder, kidnapping, rape

YOUNGSTOWN

Prosecutors told jurors in the closing arguments of the David Hackett aggravated-murder trial that phone records and DNA prove he was with the victim when she was killed and he raped her.

Jurors agreed, convicting Hackett, 54, who was acting as his own lawyer, on charges of aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping for the Oct. 13, 2013, stabbing death of Collena Carpenter, 30, of Homeworth in Columbiana County. She was stabbed 81 times.

Hackett, of New York Avenue, told jurors the DNA evidence was inconclusive and so were the phone records.

Jurors took about three hours today to find him guilty, delivering their verdicts before Judge John Durkin in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the afternoon.

Hackett was stoic when the verdicts were read, and he was handcuffed in the courtroom for the first time during the trial. Because he was acting as his own lawyer, he was not handcuffed in front of jurors.

A sentencing date for Hackett has not been set.

Read more about the case in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.