FINGER LAKES TIMES – May 1, 2019
By MIKE HIBBARD
WATERLOO — Pretrial hearings will be held in June for Emerson “John” Tohafjian, who is serving a life sentence for two murders and now faces a rape charge.
On Tuesday, Acting Seneca County Judge Daniel Doyle scheduled the hearings for June 14. Tohafjian faces felony charges of rape and unlawful imprisonment for an incident that allegedly took place last June in Fayette.
Tohafjian is accused of forcibly raping his girlfriend at the time, threatening to kill her and choking her. Tohafjian also is accused of throwing a cat carrier with a cat inside.
In addition, he faces misdemeanor charges of criminal obstruction of breathing, cruelty to animals, and criminal trespass.
In December, Tohafjian was convicted of first-degree murder and a slew of other charges related to July 10 shootings at a Virginia Street apartment house in Waterloo. He was found guilty of killing Lori McConnell and Chuck Andrus, as well as injuring Karen Zdunko, a friend of both victims.
Tohafjian was sentenced to life in prison without parole by acting county Judge Rick Healy, who presided over the trial. Tohafjian is now incarcerated at Elmira Correctional Facility.
In court Tuesday, Tohafjian’s attorney, Michael Witmer, said he will ask the state Supreme Court in Rochester to have the rape trial in another county. Witmer assisted lead defense attorney Frank Ciardi in Tohafjian’s murder case, when they unsuccessfully asked for a change in venue.
“It will be impossible to get a fair and impartial jury in this county,” Witmer said.
Witmer is seeking to suppress statements Tohafjian made to police after he was arrested in the rape case, as well as a traffic stop prior to Tohafjian’s arrest.
Doyle denied a request by Witmer to have Tohafjian incarcerated in the Seneca County Jail until the rape case is resolved.
“I’m not going to have him housed there for the duration of the case,” said Doyle, who said he would consider a request to have Tohafjian housed at Five Points Correctional Facility while the case is pending.