Convicted killer appeals to high court

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

The attorney for Austin T. Burke of Bristolville, who was sentenced to 58 years to life in prison in 2018 for killing a Warren man and leaving his body in a remote Bristol Township location, has appealed his case to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Burke, 19 at the time of the crimes, was convicted in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court of killing Brandon Sample, 22, robbing the Cortland Pizza Joe’s restaurant a short time later and possessing a plastic knife in the Trumbull County jail while awaiting trial.

The appeal follows a decision by the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals affirming Burke’s convictions and sentence.

The newest appeal again raises questions of whether cell-tower location evidence – used at Burke’s trial that suggested Burke’s movements the day of the murder – should have been admissible at trial.

Atty. Rhys Cartwright-Jones, who filed Burke’s appeal, said the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the use of locational cell phone data was important to the state’s case because prosecutors mentioned it so many times at trial.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision addressed the specific situation in the Burke case, Cartwright Jones has said, because prosecutors did not seek a court order when obtaining the cell- tower data, only a grand jury subpoena. The Supreme Court decision banned use of such data without a court order, saying it was an invasion of privacy. The U.S. Supreme Court decision was reached after the Burke trial was over and should not be imposed retroactively, the 11th District court said.

The new appeal says the witness issues in the case, in addition to the inadmissible cell-tower violation, are enough for the top court to review the matter. The Ohio Supreme Court has discretion on whether to review such cases.

“Without the cell-tower data, what remains of the state’s case is a handful of vapid teenage – with the one exception of Josh White, who was 21 — witnesses, the testimony of whom ... varied from witness to witness and even from some witnesses’ prior statements to police versus their subsequent testimony at trial.”

The appeal recounted the changing stories of the many teen witnesses who testified in the case and said their testimony was unreliable. It said there was no physical evidence tying Burke to the killing of Brandon Sample.