YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A second trial that was expected to begin Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for an Alliance man accused of killing a teenager in 2009 is now being continued.
Jury selection was to take place before Judge Maureen Sweeney in the trial of Robert Lindsey Moore, 52, who is accused of killing Glenna Jean White, 17, of Smith Township, who has been missing since June 2009.
However, the process was halted before jurors even came into the courtroom because of a dispute between prosecutors and defense attorney Lou DeFabio over an expert witness.
A hearing will be held later to resolve issues with the expert testimony. A date for that hearing has not yet been set.
Moore was indicted in December 2021 by a grand jury after new evidence was found after the case was reopened in 2017 by the Portage County Drug Task Force.
He went on trial in May 2022 but jurors could not reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared. Prosecutors opted to try him again on a charge of murder.
Just before jurors were called in, prosecutors told the judge they offered Moore the chance to plead guilty, but he declined their offer.
Judge Sweeney asked him if he was sure he wanted to do that, saying if found guilty, he would have to serve a minimum of 15 years in prison instead of a possible lesser sentence were he to plead guilty, but Moore said he was sure.
“I’m not going to plead guilty to something I didn’t do, your honor,” Moore said.
White was last seen alive on June 2, 2009, at an Alliance home where she had been drinking with several people, including Moore. Prosecutors said White claimed Moore tried to rape her and Moore angrily took her home. That was the last time White was seen alive. Her body has never been found.
When Moore returned, he was covered in mud and blood. A witness testified Moore claimed he was stopped at a stop sign in front of a bar when White jumped out of the car and then three men from the bar jumped him and beat him up.
His previous defense attorney objected several times to allowing prosecutors to tell jurors about that case, saying it would prejudice juries against his client, but Judge Sweeney overruled each objection.
There was also testimony during the first trial that White had a troubled life and had run away. There was also testimony that she had been spotted several times after she was supposedly killed. Her body has never been found.
