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Tue, Mar. 20, 2007

Gondor, Resh want to know of any inmate deals
After prosecution team visits prison, defense asks judge for disclosure of any new witnesses

By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer

RAVENNA - It was a prosecution deal that Randy Resh and Bob Gondor say cost them the past 17years of their lives in prison, and now with the first retrial in a Portage County murder case a week away, they want to know of any new deals made with inmates.

The formal request was made Monday to Portage County Common Pleas Judge Laurie J. Pittman, who granted a gag order in the the matter on March 2.

Four days later, two representatives of the prosecutor's office visited Grafton Correctional Institution, where Resh and Gondor had been imprisoned for the past several years.

Prosecutor Victor V. Vigluicci -- who sought the gag order to limit pretrial publicity -- said last week he could not comment because of that order, but said that he was being put on the spot by Beacon Journal inquiries about the prison visit.

Patricia Vechery, a lifelong friend of Resh and Gondor, said family members of two Grafton inmates told her the inmates were interviewed March 6 by the prosecutor's representatives in an attempt to obtain damaging information about Resh or Gondor in exchange for favorable input at the inmates' parole hearings.

Vechery said that of the two inmates she knew about, she was told both refused to cooperate.

Ron Craig, an investigator for Vigluicci's office, and Assistant Portage County Prosecutor Gene Muldowney were listed as the March 6 visitors, according to prison documents obtained by the Beacon Journal under an Ohio Public Records request.

Prominent Columbus lawyer James D. Owen, who represented Gondor and Resh when a judge issued the first order for new trials in June 2002, said the timing of the gag order and the Grafton visit were not coincidental.

``The reason they did that then, is to cover up what they're doing now,'' Owen said, referring to the March 2 hearing at which Pittman granted the prosecution's request for a gag order. ``What other purpose could there be?''

``The evidence of innocence in this case has been out there for the public to see for years,'' he said.

Seeking testimony

Owen, who began working on the Resh and Gondor case in 1996 when the post-conviction appeals process began, said the latest tactics were not surprising. In a Feb. 26 phone interview from his office in Columbus, he predicted prosecutors would be seeking information from inmates before the Grafton visit took place.

``They're out searching for jailhouse snitches to see if they can get people who will testify that Gondor admitted the crime, or Resh admitted it, during all those years they were in prison,'' Owen said.

``And then they'll spring the names of the inmates in discovery as late as they can. The closer it is to trial, the harder it will be (for the defense) to get sufficient information to cross-examine their snitches.''

That appeared to be the reason new lawyers for Resh and Gondor made a motion on Monday, asking ``for disclosure of any consideration to cooperating witnesses.''

Defense lawyer Gregory S. Robey, however, referred to any ``deals'' prosecutors may have made as he stood before Pittman to explain the motion.

Afterward, Assistant Portage County Prosecutor Thomas Buchanan said he would file a detailed response with the judge today, but declined to comment further, citing the gag order.

Men get new trials

On Dec. 26, after years of appeals, the Ohio Supreme Court vacated the convictions of Resh and Gondor, ordering new trials with a finding that neither jury was armed with potentially exonerating evidence that went unused by the original lawyers.

From the outset, Resh and Gondor have denied any involvement in the attempted rape and murder, tracing their entanglement in the matter to a prosecution deal in which a third defendant avoided the death penalty by agreeing to implicate Resh and Gondor in the crime.

On Aug. 15, 1988, the partially clad body of Connie Nardi, 31, a divorced mother of two from Randolph Township, was found in a pond off Rapids Road in Geauga County's Troy Township.

The coroner ruled she had been strangled.

Prosecution deal

It took Geauga County authorities only 10 days to single out a Hiram man -- Troy Busta, 21 -- as the culprit. He was indicted on nine felony counts with a death penalty specification for aggravated murder.

Faced with the possibility of execution, Busta told his lawyers and their investigator -- in a 50-page recorded interview -- he was willing to do ``anything I have to do to get myself out of this.''

Months later, Busta managed to strike a deal to avoid death row.

If he would confess, Geauga County would allow him to plead guilty to a lesser charge.

Busta confessed, and in the story he told, he said co-conspirators were involved: Resh and Gondor.

But Geauga County displayed no interest in prosecuting them, shipping what was left of the case to then Portage County Prosecutor David W. Norris.

Resh and Gondor were tried separately in 1990. Resh was convicted of murder and attempted rape, Gondor of involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping and obstructing justice.

Norris resigned from office in 1994 after pleading guilty to a federal charge of cocaine possession.

The retrial of Resh is scheduled for March 27 before Pittman. Gondor is to be retried April 18 before Judge John A. Enlow.

Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or Email Ed Meyer

Used with permission