TOLEDO, Ohio — A Toledo man convicted of aggravated murder for a woman’s 2022 strangulation death has been granted a motion to seek a new trial “based on newly discovered evidence.”
Attorneys for Andres Pecina, 42, filed a motion in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on March 17, requesting leave to submit a new trial motion. The motion was granted on March 19 by Judge Eric Allen Marks, and attorney David Klucas was appointed to represent Pecina.
Pecina was convicted in October 2023 in the death of Erica Cole, 43, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. According to the motion, at trial, prosecutors relied in part on testimony from the Lucas County coroner, Dr. Diane Scala-Barnett, who ruled Cole’s death a homicide. A defense expert testified that the manner of death was undetermined…