MANSFIELD — A Richland County Jury listened to opening statements Tuesday morning in the assault case involving Michael Skidmore.
Skidmore, 59, is accused of striking two security officers July 9, 2015 while they were attempting to detain him during a Richland County commissioners meeting.
The Shelby resident was indicted by a Richland County Grand Jury on two counts of felonious assault, a second-degree felony; one count of inducing panic, a fourth-degree felony; one count of obstructing official business, a fifth-degree felony; and two counts of assault, a first-degree misdemeanor.
If convicted on all charges, Skidmore could be sentenced to up to 18 1/2 years in prison.
Brad Tammaro of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office is handling the case as a special prosecutor. He was first to address the jury on Tuesday and set the scene of what took place during the July 9 commissioners meeting.
“There was nothing unique, nothing unusual or strange that was supposed to take place at this particular commissioners meeting, but that is not the way the day turned out,” he said.
Tammaro said there were multiple attendees at the meeting who were filming what took place, including Skidmore with his GoPro camera.
“The fact that there are at least four cameras recording the sound and recording what is going on in that commissioners meeting room that day makes this case a very unique kind of case, a very special kind of case,” Tammaro said. “Because in a normal kind of case, the jury has to rely on the testimony of witnesses as to their perception of what they think they saw and what they think they heard.
“In this case, you are going to see the events and hear the events as they unfold in that commissioners meeting room as close to first-hand as conceivably possible without actually having been there that day.”
During the meeting, security officers Chuck Kochis and Timothy Norris attempted to remove Skidmore from the boardroom after he reportedly touched a clerk while trying to see her name tag.
“Perhaps he walked a little too close — didn’t make it illegal, didn’t mean he touched her,” said Jaceda Blazef, who is handling Skidmore’s defense, along with co-counsel Paul Mancino Jr. and Anica Blazef-Horner. “You be the judge on whether he touches her; you’ll see the videos yourselves.”
A commissioner claimed seeing Skidmore touch the clerk and said that the touch was inappropriate and asked the human resources director to notify security.
Kochis and Norris responded and Norris approached Skidmore, reaching toward his camera.
“When that hand comes into contact with that camera … the reaction by the defendant is almost instantaneous,” Tammaro said.
Skidmore allegedly struck Norris repeatedly in the head and bit Kochis on the cheek.
Tammaro said Norris suffered damage to his right eye and had to have an operation on his right shoulder as a result of the incident. In turn, the state contends the incident led Norris to fire his gun, which struck a wall.
A Richland County Sheriff’s Office press release issued July 10 confirmed the discharge was intentional.
“(Skidmore) didn’t plan to go to that courthouse in shorts and sandals to beat somebody up,” Blazef said. “In fact, this was an unprovoked attack on him.”
Blazef said a couple months prior to the incident, Skidmore was filming someone requesting public records at the courthouse when he was approached by two security officers, who didn’t have identity badges on, and told Skidmore to stop recording and leave.
“Needless to say, he was upset about that and asked them who they were,” Blazef said. “And he started to develop a fear that most would think would be an irrational fear, a paranoia of sorts, that perhaps somebody at this courthouse might end up beating him up.”
When Norris reached for the camera that was tied around his neck, Blazef said Skidmore’s “irrational fears” came to fruition.
“He starts to fight for life and defend himself,” she said. “Tim Norris had it out to get him. He told Kochis a week prior that he’d love to grab his GoPro off his neck, and given the opportunity that’s exactly what he did, but he went too far.”
Blazef provided some background information on Skidmore, noting that he’s been married for 40 years and has two children and 15 grandchildren. He’s a former Marine and is retired from the Mansfield Correctional Institution, where he worked as a security guard for 30 years.
“He has the gift of getting on peoples’ nerves,” she said. “Sometimes he’s not a very likable person, he’s annoying. He can be aggravating, but that does not mean he has any less rights than anyone else, thus the beauty of being an American.”
Blazef argued that Skidmore was exercising his right to free speech.
“This case is about the First Amendment,” she said, while holding one of Norman Rockwell’s paintings, “Freedom of Speech.”
“We have freedoms that other people do not have in other countries — the freedom to speak, the freedom to attend public forums, the freedom to question authority, and that is what Michael Skidmore was doing on July 9, 2015,” she said.
“At the end of this case, ladies and gentlemen, you will not be able to say anything other than not guilty because Michael Skidmore was at a public forum, where he had a legal right to be. He did not do anything illegal in that room and he had a right to defend himself.”
Tammaro noted that it’s the state’s responsibility to show the jury evidence that proves that the defendant committed the actions that make up the crimes that he’s been charged with beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The evidence in this case will make it clear that it’s not about free speech. It’s not about the First Amendment,” Tammaro argued. “The evidence in this case that you’re going to see will also consist of events that took place prior to July 9 that involved the defendant, and those events are going to explain to you that what happened on July 9 was no accident, was no mistake.”
Skidmore’s trial began Monday afternoon in Richland County Common Pleas Court with jury selection. The jury is made up of five men, seven women and two alternates.
The trial is expected to last a week.
