BUCYRUS—Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall has filed his formal memorandum of response to Bucyrus attorney Adam Stone’s motion for a new trial for his recently convicted client Joshua Benedict.
Benedict was convicted on April 30th of two counts of rape of a nine-year-old victim and 86 various other sexual offenses, including pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor. He faces two life sentences without the possibility of parole, with hundreds of years added by the other conviction.
According to the State’s response, Stone filed the motion for a new trial based on an affidavit submitted by the victim’s estranged grandfather, William Parker Jr., of Louisiana.
Stone submitted what was claimed to be newly discovered evidence. Stone contended that Parker purchased the tablet allegedly used in the crimes a full year after the crime had been committed.
Stone alleged that the tablet the State presented at trial was used to wrongfully convict Benedict.
As reported by Crawford County Now, the defense in its motion for a new trial suggested that the victim took the images presented at the trial of herself.
According to the response, the tablet in question (not the tablet present in court) is clearly a different tablet and NOT the tablet Benedict used.
The victim’s photo was captured on a black Samsung tablet, whereas the “newly discovered” tablet is white.
The State contends professional expert testimony that directly tied the images to the black tablet presented to the jury had contributed to Benedict’s conviction.
The State presented evidence in the form of receipts for both laptops clearly showing the differences in the tablets, including model numbers and serial numbers that do not match as well as proof that one tablet is black and one is white.
Based on their memorandum. The State asked that Benedict’s motion for a new trial be denied.
Benedict is scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday, June 23rd at 9:30 a.m. in the Crawford County Common Pleas Court.
