MANSFIELD — Jury deliberations will continue Friday in the trial of Michael Skidmore.
Skidmore, 59, 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.
The charges stem from an altercation with two security officers during a July 9 county commissioners meeting. If convicted on all charges, the Shelby resident could be sentenced to up to 18 1/2 years in prison.
Closing statements were presented to the jury Thursday afternoon.
Special prosecutor Brad Tammaro argued that Skidmore’s actions were deliberate during the July 9 meeting when security officers Chuck Kochis and Timothy Norris attempted to remove the defendant from the boardroom after he allegedly got too close to a clerk while trying to see her name tag.
“When the defendant struck security officer Norris in that first blow, that wasn’t a reflex action,” Tammaro said to the jury. “You know that because he paused. He paused before he threw that first blow. It wasn’t an accident.”
Tammaro said Kochis is heard in one of the videos that filmed the incident, “You don’t have to do this.”
“Security officer Kochis was right,” Tammaro said. “The defendant did not have do that. The defendant wanted to do that.”
Skidmore then turns to Kochis and begins attacking him, Tammaro said.
“And when he opened his mouth and sunk his teeth into the cheek of security officer Kochis, that wasn’t a reflex,” he said. “That wasn’t some involuntary act…That was a deliberate, that was an intentional, that was a knowing act.”
But the defense argued otherwise.
Jaceda Blazef, who is handling Skidmore’s defense, said Norris grabbed at Skidmore.
“This is not Russia; somebody cannot walk up to you without just cause and grab at you…that’s what this case is about,” she said. “He (Skidmore) was grabbed at, and he had an instantaneous, involuntary reaction to it.”
She said there was no thought process by Skidmore.
“He did not have time to think,” she said. “He instantly reacted.”
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.
But Blazef said there’s no substantial evidence to prove the officers suffered serious physical harm.
“Norris testified that he had to have surgery on his rotator cuff, and he wanted you guys to believe it was the result of this incident, but then he further testified it was disallowed under his workers comp plan,” she said. “There has not been any substantial evidence to prove to any of you that he suffered serious physical harm, nor with Kochis.”
Tammaro said that Skidmore spoke with someone the day before the incident on July 8 via his Facebook account, telling the person he’s trying to get a group of people to attend the commissioners meeting the following day. The person then asks Skidmore what he’ll be doing on July 20, to which Skidmore responds, “Nothing if I’m not in jail,” Tammaro said.
“The defendant’s actions (on July 9) provide an explanation to that statement,” he said.
Blazef argued that this case is about being an American.
“This case is about the protections that each and every one of us in this entire room have — First Amendment, freedom of speech, freedom to question power, freedom to question authority.”
She again displayed the “Freedom of Speech” painting by Norman Rockwell, which was referenced in opening statements to drive her message home.
She called Skidmore the true victim in this case.
“He’s standing up,” she said. “He’s the voice.”
Skidmore’s trial began Monday with jury selection. Opening statements were given the following morning.
Skidmore did not testify.
“Every person accused of a crime has an absolute constitutional right not to testify,” said presiding Judge Richard Reinbold.
Reinbold told the jury it is not required to believe the testimony of any witness simply because a witness is under oath, but to determine what testimony is worthy to believe and what isn’t.
The jury, which is made up of five men, seven women and two alternates, began deliberations Thursday at about 3:15 p.m. Deliberations are expected to continue Friday at the Richland County Common Pleas Court.
