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WARREN -- The attorneys for a co-defendant in the case of a fatal fire that killed 16-year-old Chassidy Broadstone motioned for the case against their client to be dismissed, citing Sixth Amendment violations.
During a Friday hearing in front of Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Sean O'Brien, 30-year-old Brendan Michael Daviduk was represented by attorneys Rhys Brendan Cartwright-Jones and Louis M. Defabio.
They filed a motion claiming the charges against Daviduk fail to specify whether he acted as a principal offender or with prior calculation and design in the January 2023 fatal fire that killed Chassidy inside her Nevada Avenue NW residence.
A trial date for Daviduk is scheduled June 17.
According to the affidavit filed Friday, before and during the fire, surveillance footage captured two suspects at the residence on Jan. 19, 2023, with one suspect, identified as Zackary Gurd, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt seen carrying a gas can. Moments before the fire started, Gurd could be seen with the gas can and later removing an Xbox from the home.
Investigators determined Gurd to be a suspect, leading to his eventual arrest in Virginia after he fled the state.
Gurd has since avoided the death penalty, having pleaded guilty in December to charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence.
He's yet to be sentenced in the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Cynthia Rice but faces between 40 and 60 years imprisonment.
Co-defendant Patricia Zarlingo has a trial date scheduled in O'Brien's courtroom on July 23.
The defense motion states that a witness familiar with the suspects identified Gurd and a GMC Yukon XI owned by co-defendant Zarlingo, linking the two to the fatal house fire. Investigators later determined mobile phone records placed Zarlingo and Daviduk near the location of the Nevada home, but attorneys in the affidavit state such facts don't suggest intent by Daviduk for murder.
The defense counsel for Daviduk suggests their client, who is facing multiple charges, including aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence, involvement necessitates further clarification from the government.
The legal challenge from the defense asserts the "charging instruments" fail to measure up to the felony murder capital specification against Daviduk, as required by Ohio law.