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2 men plead not guilty in separate child-murder cases
By JUSTIN DENNIS
YOUNGSTOWN
Two men indicted last week in the separate murders of two infants pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Marc Flora, 29, of Campbell, pleaded not guilty by way of insanity to two counts of aggravated murder and one count of murder in the Aug. 18 stabbing death of his 1-year-old daughter.
He is being held without bond, pending competency and sanity motions, said Nick Modarelli, chief assistant Mahoning County prosecutor.
Authorities believe Flora stabbed the girl in the neck at his Penhale Avenue home. When officers arrived, Flora was covered in blood and a bloody knife was found nearby. Flora told police he blacked out and had no recollection of the incident.
Christian Sumpter, 24, of Austintown, was arraigned on one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder and one count of endangering children in the Sept. 3 death of his 4-month-old daughter.
Prosecutors argued to have Sumpter held without bond, but the magistrate deferred a bond ruling to Sumpter’s trial court and Judge Anthony D’Apolito. That court is expected to remain in trial through today and it’s unclear when Judge D’Apolito could consider Sumpter’s bond, court officials said Tuesday. Sumpter will continue to be held on a $150,000 bond in his unrelated felonious assault case.
Though Sumpter told police the girl fell while he was tossing her in the air playfully and that her death was an accident, the girl’s autopsy at the Summit County Medical Examiner’s office indicated otherwise, prosecutors said.
“That’s how we know the defendant’s account of an accident is not true,” said Jennifer McLaughlin, assistant Mahoning County prosecutor.
Though Shawn Wendling, 37, of Hillsville, Pa., was also indicted last week, on two counts each of rape and kidnapping as well as counts of aggravated robbery and felonious assault in the Sept. 4 rape of a Poland Township jogger, he did not appear for arraignment Tuesday.
Authorities have yet to extradite Wendling from the Portage County jail, where he is being held on a $5 million bond in several other alleged rapes in that county, Modarelli said.