Staff photo / Ed Runyan Robert L. Moore who is seen in Judge Maureen Sweeney’s courtroom in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court prior to the start of jury selection in Moore’s retrial on murder.

YOUNGSTOWN — Unfortunate statements made by a potential juror in the retrial of Robert L. Moore, 53, in the disappearance and presumed murder of Glenna J. White, 16, in 2009 have postponed the trial until next week.

The girl was last seen leaving a home on Alden Avenue in Smith Township near Alliance on June 2, 2009, with Moore.

Moore, of Alliance, went on trial the first time in June 2022 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. The jury found him not guilty of aggravated murder, but it could not decide whether he was guilty of murder, so prosecutors decided to try Moore again.

According to court documents, White was visiting a home on Alden Avenue. Prior to leaving with Moore, Glenna had, earlier that night, told others in the home that Moore had touched her inappropriately or tried to rape her. Moore’s girlfriend lived at the home.

Moore reportedly returned an hour or so later with blood and mud on his clothing. White was not with him, and prosecutors believe Moore was the last person to see her alive. Her body was never found.

The issue that resulted in the trial being postponed until Oct. 10 was that a juror arrived for court Monday complaining that he should not have to serve on the jury because he had been earlier convicted of a serious offense. He was presumed to be eligible nonetheless and forwarded to the judge for jury selection.

The potential jurors had come into the courtroom to start jury selection when one of the potential jurors told a court staff member in front of other jurors that he had a felony criminal record and other things, said Mike Yacovone, assistant county prosecutor.

The attorneys in the case met with Judge Sweeney and agreed that in order to make sure that only jurors who had not been tainted by the remarks were seated on the jury, they would need to be questioned privately about it, said Mike Yacovone, assistant county prosecutor.

Yacovone said the amount of time that would take would not be practical. Instead, a new jury can be empaneled Oct. 10, and the trial can take place then. Monday is a legal holiday.

Before the jury selection began Monday, a hearing was held on how much jurors would be allowed to hear about an incident Aug. 15, 2023, in Alliance involving a key witness in the case who was at the home on Alden Avenue at time of Glenn’s disappearance, and who testified in the first trial.

Judge Maureen Sweeney listened to oral arguments from the prosecution and defense and ruled that some questions about the August incident can be asked during the trial, but no other witnesses or evidence can be presented.

The issue was the reason the trial was postponed in August.