A clerical error caused the wrong Akron man to be charged with aggravated murder in a March nightclub shooting death.
An indictment filed Thursday in Summit County Common Pleas Court showed Anthony Cox had been charged with five felonies, including aggravated murder and murder, while his co-defendant, Thomas Dunn III, faced a lone count of obstruction of justice. The problem was, it should have been the other way around, with the more serious charges against Dunn.
This unusual mistake prompted a mad scramble at the courthouse Monday, with the parties trying to decide what should be done.
In the meantime, the defense attorneys, their clients and their clients’ families were concerned and confused about the mix-up.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ed Bonetti, Dunn’s attorney who has practiced law for 30 years, said after a pretrial in the case Monday morning. “I don’t know what happened — and I don’t see how it could have.”
Cox, 19, currently is charged with aggravated murder, two counts of murder, felonious assault and having weapons while under disability. The aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault charges include gun specifications. Dunn, 19, is charged with obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony. The charges stem from the March 4 shooting death of bouncer Daniel Turner, 33, outside the Game 7 Bar and Grille, 627 S. Arlington St.
Assistant Prosecutor Brian LoPrinzi noticed the mistake with the charges Friday after Cox and Dunn were arraigned. He notified the defense attorneys and Judge Christine Croce, the presiding judge in Summit County Common Pleas Court who supervises grand jury proceedings.
Croce said Monday that she reviewed grand jury documents and is confident the grand jury intended to indict Dunn for the more serious charges and Cox for only obstruction. She said a secretary inadvertently transposed the names when she typed the indictment. The judge said she didn’t notice the mix-up when she looked over the indictment.
Brad Gessner, chief counsel for the prosecutor’s office, said the problem was caused by the switching of two letters.
“When two or more people are indicted together, a single case number is assigned with the letters ‘A’ and ‘B’ for each individual,” he said in an email. “In this case, the letters were transposed.”
Croce consulted Monday with Judge Amy Corrigall Jones, who is handling the Cox and Dunn cases, and they decided the case should be presented to the grand jury again, with a new case number assigned and the initial case dismissed.
“This will be the cleanest way to do it,” Croce said.
Croce said she doesn’t think the clerical error ultimately will have a significant impact on the case.
Summit County prosecutors say the presentation to the grand jury will happen before a pretrial in Jones’ courtroom at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Brian Pierce, Cox’s attorney, urged Jones during Monday’s pretrial to lower his client’s $1 million, 10 percent bond in light of the charges mix-up. He said his client has no felony record, had two jobs before his arrest, and has a supportive family. Jones asked him to revisit the issue of bond at the Wednesday pretrial.
Dunn is being held on a $250,000, 10 percent bond.
Pierce and Bonetti said they may request a transcript of the grand jury proceedings in light of the charges mix-up. This step is seldom granted by judges because of the secrecy of the grand jury process.
“My concern is: What happened at the grand jury?” Pierce asked. “When there’s a mistake of this magnitude, transparency is needed.”
Pierce said his client denies having anything to do with the fatal nightclub shooting.
The shooting, the second death at the bar in two months, prompted calls for action from Akron leaders. Akron City Council members are pushing for the closing of the club and opposed the transfer of a liquor permit to a new property owner. Councilwoman Tara Mosley-Samples also is trying to get an issue on the November ballot to prohibit liquor sales in this neighborhood.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj .