The 11th District Court of Appeals in Ohio upheld a Champion man’s conviction and jail sentence for two first-degree felonious assault offenses.
Judge Ronald J. Rice sentenced Randy Pence, 41, of Champion Township, to an indefinite six- to nine-year prison term in November 2023 for two counts of felonious assault, both first-degree felonies.
In his appeal, Pence and his counsel argued that the trial court allowed the state to modify the indictment to remove the word “serious” from the term “serious physical harm.” Judge Mary Jane Trapp, along with Judges John J. Eklund and Robert J. Patton, led the appeals court to rule that the error assignment lacked merit.
Pence’s involvement in a 2021 standoff at a Leavittsburg residence, during which he attacked a police officer and another man with an axe, led to his conviction. After hitting a man with the ax, Pence holed himself in a shed on the Meadowbrook Drive property. as Pence failed to answer police commands to come out, he hurled the ax through a gap in the door as authorities attempted to enter, and one officer was struck on the arm, resulting in a severe cut, according to accounts.
Pence’s term will continue at Allen Correctional Institution.
In Pence’s appeal, Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Sanders represented the state, while Mansfield attorney Byron D. Corley represented Pence.