YOUNGSTOWN — Juror misconduct on Monday has caused the Robert L. Moore murder trial to be postponed again. Moore is accused in the 2009 disappearance and presumed murder of Glenna J. White, 16, of Alliance.

Lou DeFabio, defense attorney, informed Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court after lunch Monday that he was informed of remarks made by a potential juror at lunch at a downtown restaurant to another potential juror that the juror should not have made.

The remarks may have been heard by potential jurors seated at a nearby table, DeFabio said. Friends or relatives of Moore heard the remarks and reported them to DeFabio.

Sweeney agreed that the remarks are juror misconduct and agreed to declare a mistrial because of the remarks. Prosecutors and DeFabio also heard a loud, possibly angry, remark coming from another potential juror in the back of the courtroom before jurors left for lunch, DeFabio said.

It is about the seventh time the case has been postponed. Juror misconduct has now occurred multiple times, but there also have been issues with illness and personal family matters involving DeFabio, as well as issues involving a prosecution witness that led to two postponements.

An earlier instance of a juror making improper remarks in front of other potential jurors occurred during jury selection in the case last October.

The first jury heard the case in June of 2022 and found Moore not guilty of aggravated murder but could not decide whether Moore was guilty of murder, so prosecutors decided to try him again.

Moore, 54, of Alliance is charged with murder. Glenna disappeared after leaving a home in Smith Township near Sebring and Alliance.

Moore was indicted in the case in December 2021.

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