WARREN – Ohio’s 11th District Court of Appeals on Monday upheld the conviction and prison sentence of convicted sexually violent predator David Honzu, rejecting his appeal of alleged ineffective assistance of counsel.

Honzu, 66, is serving consecutive sentences totaling 77 years to life on multiple convictions, including three counts of kidnapping and two counts of rape, in connection with a 2007 cold case in Warren.

A Trumbull County jury took less than 30 minutes in October 2022 to convict Honzu of five felony charges related to the 2007 sexual assault of a woman who was walking near the old Powerhouse Bar in the Northwest Section of the city. Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice also found Honzu to be a sexually violent predator and a repeat violent offender, specifications that were attached to the three counts of kidnapping and two counts of rape he- the jury decided.

The woman, according to a nurse’s document read into the record during the trial, reported being followed by an unknown person from the Powerhouse bar as she walked home around 2 a.m. on July 29, 2007. She described the man who attacked -o as having a long face with facial hair, between 32 and 34 years old, and looking like David Letterman.

The man grabbed her and then pulled her off the street.

He punched her repeatedly in the face, threatening more physical harm, the report said.

The woman, in the report, described thinking the man had a knife, but admitted she didn’t see it.

He forced her to have sex. He tried to force her to kiss him during the attack. She was held against her will until daylight.

According to the nurse’s report, the victim went door to door trying to get help before someone offered her a blanket and allowed her to call 911. She was taken to the hospital for multiple scrapes and bruises.

A DNA sample was taken from Honzu and sent to the state crime lab for analysis. A state investigator testified that Honzu’s DNA matched evidence taken from the rape kit.

Honzu was identified in 1995 as a sexual predator in connection with an attack on a 6-year-old boy. In 2010, Honzu was charged with stalking a 12-year-old girl.

In September 2022, Honzu was found guilty in a trial involving the attempted kidnapping of a woman at knifepoint at a Champion car wash. In that case, Honzu received a sentence of 17 years to life in prison.

The 2007 case, part of an initiative by the Ohio attorney general to clean up the stockpile of untested rape kits, was reopened when DNA evidence linked Honzu to the attack.

Honzu remains incarcerated at Marion Correctional Institution.