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YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County prosecutors are asking that when Robert L. Moore goes on trial a second time in the 2009 disappearance and presumed killing of Glenna J. White, 16, that jurors be taken to an apartment in Smith Township, an Alliance bar and to White's home in Alliance.
A jury view is a trip to the locations where various aspects of a criminal case is believed to have taken place. It is intended to show jurors the physical locations to help them understand the facts presented in the courtroom.
Moore, 53, of Alliance, is set for trial 8:30 a.m. Aug. 7 before Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Moore was tried by a jury in June 2022 that found him not guilty of aggravated murder, but the jury could not reach a verdict on murder, so prosecutors chose to try Moore again. But there have been multiple delays in getting the case ready for the second try.
DELAYS
First, Moore received a new attorney, Lou DeFabio.
Then in January, the retrial was postponed because of the unavailability of a witness.
Then information surfaced from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children related to White that had to be researched. Officials declined to provide much information on that matter.
But this week, Patrick Kiraly, county assistant prosecutor filed two motions in the case, including one asking Sweeney to allow jurors to see the locations relevant to the trial. The judge has not yet ruled on that.
Kiraly also asked that the judge not allow the defense to present evidence regarding polygraphs given during the investigation. The motion does not say what person or persons were given the polygraph tests, but it states that neither the defense nor prosecution has stipulated to the test results.
The filing states that polygraph test results are "generally inadmissible to prove an accused (person's) guilt or innocence," but they can be admissible if the parties have agreed that they will be admissible and other conditions.
ALLEGATION
According to court documents, White was visiting a home on Alden Avenue in Smith Township when she left late June 2, 2009, with Moore. White had earlier that night told others in the home that Moore had touched her inappropriately or tried to rape her. Moore's girlfriend lived at the home.
Moore returned an hour or so later with blood and mud on his clothing. White was not with him, and prosecutors believe Moore was the last person to see her alive.
The first trial took place in Mahoning County because Alden Avenue is in Mahoning County, but White's home actually was near Alliance in Stark County. Because of her poor home life, however, she was staying mostly at a friend's house near Alliance in the months before her death, a witness testified during the first trial.
The locations mentioned in the trial were throughout the Alliance area, which straddles several county, township and city boundaries. The investigator who brought the case to Mahoning County prosecutors after getting a 2020 tip about the White case is Ed Kennedy of the Portage County Sheriff's Office. Portage County also is close to the locations involved in the case.
The case could have been tried in Mahoning or Stark counties, because various aspects of the case took place in both, according to prosecutors.
The jury deliberated about two days after about a week of testimony before Sweeney read the not-guilty and hung-jury results.
Moore was handcuffed and taken back to the county jail after the results were read. He has remained in the jail since the first trial.
erunyan@vindy.com