Appellate judges have upheld 43-year-old Erica Stefanko’s second conviction in the over-decade-old pizza delivery murder case, spurning her hopes at a third trial for the time being.
Despite the unanimous opinion written by Ninth District Court of Appeals Judge Donna Carr, Stefanko can appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.
“I’m disappointed, but I am hopeful she can retain relief from the Ohio Supreme Court,” Stefanko’s trial attorney Jeff Laybourne said.
Stefanko had hoped to overturn her second conviction in the 2012 strangulation and beating death of Ashley Biggs, arguing there was not enough evidence linking her to the murder.
The Summit County Prosecutor’s Office had argued there was sufficient evidence proving Stefanko’s part in Biggs’ murder.
Co-defendants appealed trial court rulings
Chad Cobb, Stefanko’s co-defendant, is serving a life sentence without parole for Biggs’ death after he accepted a plea agreement in 2013. In exchange, he did not face the death penalty. Cobb later requested to withdraw his plea, but a judge denied the request.
Jurors first found Stefanko guilty in 2020, but she successfully appealed that conviction because Cobb should not have been allowed to testify by video.
Jurors had sufficient evidence to convict
In writing her opinion, Carr explained that jurors had sufficient evidence to convict Stefanko of Biggs’ murder.
Although there was no DNA linking Stefanko or Cobb to the June 12, 2012, crime, other evidence did, Carr wrote. That included duct tape that matched the tape found on Biggs’ body. Biggs’ DNA was also found on Cobb’s sock.
Stefanko testified that she knew of no murder plan. Instead, she thought Cobb wanted to plant methamphetamine in Biggs’ car. The plan was for Stefanko to order a pizza under a fake name using a burner phone. Cobb testified he used a stun gun on Biggs and beat her. Stefanko zip-tied her neck, hands and feet.
At the time of Biggs’ murder, she and Cobb were embroiled in a heated custody dispute concerning their daughter.
After the incident in New Franklin, Stefanko drove, following Cobb in Biggs’ car to a Wayne County cornfield, where he left Biggs’ body in the car.
Stefanko argued she was not guilty because Cobb testified that he did not murder Biggs, but the appeals judges wrote that “there was ample evidence to support that Cobb murdered (Biggs).”
There was also “abundant evidence that there was a plan to murder (Biggs),” Carr wrote.
The jury listened to a three-hour recorded phone conversation with Cobb’s mother in which Stefanko said that “if everything had been told exactly as it happened, then (Cobb and Stefanko) would both be in prison.”
Jurors also heard testimony that Cobb and Stefanko were “somewhat gleeful” after police missed evidence when they searched their property. Stefanko said she left the car in a cornfield, explaining that if it were a different time of year, it would not have been found.
“After a thorough and independent review of the voluminous record in this case, we can only conclude that Stefanko has failed to demonstrate that the jury lost its way in finding her guilty of the charges,” Carr wrote.
Bryce Buyakie is an Akron-based reporter who covers the courts and public safety for the Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at bbuyakie@gannett.com or on X @bryce_buyakie.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Court denies Erica Stefanko third trial in pizza delivery murder
Reporting by Bryce Buyakie, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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