bloodrayne
12-14-2004, 07:30 PM
Man On Trial For Torturing Girlfriend
Warren, Ohio - A 22-year-old woman who was tortured with a hot iron, leaving burns over 50 percent of her body, will take the witness stand this week as the trial for her one-time boyfriend gets under way.
It is unclear whether 33-year-old Ernest Averiett will tell his side of the story. His defense could include a cross- examination of why extreme jealousy may have moved him to torture the woman.
Jury selection is expected to begin this afternoon with opening remarks most likely Tuesday morning in the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Peter Kontos.
A checkered criminal past may prevent Averiett from taking the stand in his own behalf, but the defendant's attorney, Alan Matavich, sounds confident, saying "we intend to show up for trial and take on their witnesses, one by one.''
Assistant prosecutor David Toepfer, meanwhile, intends to call Warren detectives who examined the Benton Street S.E. apartment of Jonelle Wynn where police say Averiett became enraged at the thought that his girlfriend was cheating on him.
The couple shared an apartment at one point but weren't living together Aug. 16 when police say Wynn was seared with the iron for at least a half-hour, attacked with a tire iron, dragged into a bathtub of cold water and threatened with electrocution by throwing a plugged-in appliance into the water. Despite no longer living together, the defendant still had a key to the apartment.
Indictments indicate Averiett faces a charge of felonious assault, two counts of digital rape, kidnapping and intimidation of a witness based on a statement that he threatened her not to report the torture while holding a steak knife to her throat inside his car while driving her to a hospital.
Wynn said she talked her one-time boyfriend into driving her to seek treatment, but he refused to take her to a local hospital and they finally wound up at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown. She was later transferred to the Regional Burn Unit in Akron.
Matavich is expected to question why Wynn first told medical personnel that she had been attacked and burned by a group of women in Youngstown.
The defense attorney also might question why if Averiett attacked her would then visit and bring her flowers while she was in Akron.
Evidence in the case may hinge on DNA comparisons from the iron that will be explained by a forensic scientist with Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
Averiett has remained in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bond after he was arrested Aug. 27 following a highway chase.
Apparently aware that warrants had been issued and police were looking for him, Averiett drove off, steering through back yards and slamming into a guardrail on Charles Avenue S.E. before running off.
A K-9 officer with his dog finally captured Averiett.
Warren, Ohio - A 22-year-old woman who was tortured with a hot iron, leaving burns over 50 percent of her body, will take the witness stand this week as the trial for her one-time boyfriend gets under way.
It is unclear whether 33-year-old Ernest Averiett will tell his side of the story. His defense could include a cross- examination of why extreme jealousy may have moved him to torture the woman.
Jury selection is expected to begin this afternoon with opening remarks most likely Tuesday morning in the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Peter Kontos.
A checkered criminal past may prevent Averiett from taking the stand in his own behalf, but the defendant's attorney, Alan Matavich, sounds confident, saying "we intend to show up for trial and take on their witnesses, one by one.''
Assistant prosecutor David Toepfer, meanwhile, intends to call Warren detectives who examined the Benton Street S.E. apartment of Jonelle Wynn where police say Averiett became enraged at the thought that his girlfriend was cheating on him.
The couple shared an apartment at one point but weren't living together Aug. 16 when police say Wynn was seared with the iron for at least a half-hour, attacked with a tire iron, dragged into a bathtub of cold water and threatened with electrocution by throwing a plugged-in appliance into the water. Despite no longer living together, the defendant still had a key to the apartment.
Indictments indicate Averiett faces a charge of felonious assault, two counts of digital rape, kidnapping and intimidation of a witness based on a statement that he threatened her not to report the torture while holding a steak knife to her throat inside his car while driving her to a hospital.
Wynn said she talked her one-time boyfriend into driving her to seek treatment, but he refused to take her to a local hospital and they finally wound up at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown. She was later transferred to the Regional Burn Unit in Akron.
Matavich is expected to question why Wynn first told medical personnel that she had been attacked and burned by a group of women in Youngstown.
The defense attorney also might question why if Averiett attacked her would then visit and bring her flowers while she was in Akron.
Evidence in the case may hinge on DNA comparisons from the iron that will be explained by a forensic scientist with Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
Averiett has remained in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bond after he was arrested Aug. 27 following a highway chase.
Apparently aware that warrants had been issued and police were looking for him, Averiett drove off, steering through back yards and slamming into a guardrail on Charles Avenue S.E. before running off.
A K-9 officer with his dog finally captured Averiett.