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Bristolville man charged with murder asks court for expert witness and separate trials
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A Bristolville man accused in the shooting death of a city man in a rural area of Bristol Township June 15 and committing a Cortland pizza shop robbery June 21 is asking the court to pay for an expert witness.
Austin T. Burke, 19, of Miller South Road has asked Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court allow Burke to hire expert witness Cherry Biometrics for up to $8,500 to advise Burke regarding cellphone historical data.
Burke’s family hired Bradley Olson Jr. as Burke’s lawyer, but Burke and his family cannot afford an expert witness, the filing says.
Burke is charged in the June 12 aggravated murder and aggravated robbery of Brandon Sample, 22, of Garfield Drive Northeast.
He is also charged with aggravated robbery and other crimes in the June 21 armed robbery of the Pizza Joe’s Restaurant on West Main Street in Cortland.
Sample’s family reported Sample missing June 12, and his body was found June 15. Police arrested Burke on June 21 in Cortland shortly after the 10:30 p.m. armed robbery of the Pizza Joe’s restaurant.
Police had already filed the murder charge against Burke earlier June 21 and were looking for him by tracing his cellphone near the time when the pizza shop robbery occurred. The trace indicated Burke was in downtown Cortland, Cortland police said.
Burke was arrested in an apartment building near the pizza shop a short time after the robbery.
Burke’s filing says Burke needs an expert witness in biometrics, computer and cellphone technology to review cellphone data that prosecutors intend to use in Burke’s trial, which is scheduled for Jan. 8.
The filing says Burke’s attorney believes an expert witness will demonstrate that the cellphone data prosecutors have is unreliable. Prosecutors have said the cellphone data places Burke “at the scene of the crime,” Burke’s filing says.
The filing isn’t clear on whether prosecutors plan to use cellphone data only to connect Burke to the pizza-shop robbery or also to Sample’s killing.
Meanwhile, another Burke filing asks the judge to separate the murder and pizza shop robbery into two trials. The filing says the June 12 “execution-style” murder of Sample and theft of Sample’s car is separate from the June 21 pizza-shop robbery.
Burke’s attorney said trying Burke on the murder and pizza-shop robbery together could cause a jury to find him guilty of all crimes if they conclude he’s guilty of even one of them.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that avoiding multiple trials conserves time and expense and diminishes inconveniences to witnesses.
There will be only two or three witnesses in the pizza-shop robbery, and the testimony will be direct and concise, prosecutors said.