MANSFIELD — A Richland County Common Pleas Court jury found Michael Skidmore not guilty of two counts of felonious assault, but guilty of four other charges Friday.
Skidmore, 59, of Shelby, was found guilty on counts of inducing panic, obstructing official business and two misdemeanor counts of assault.
The charges stem from an altercation with two security officers who tried to remove Skidmore from a Richland County Commissioners meeting July 9, 2015, after he got too close to a clerk while trying to see her name tag.
Visiting judge Richard Reinbold scheduled Skidmore’s sentencing for July 27 at 11 a.m. and ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
Reinbold explained to Skidmore that it would be in his best interest to cooperate during the pre-sentence investigation.
“If you don’t meet the minimum requirements, you’ll seriously jeopardize your chance of this court handing down a community control sanction (probation),” Reinbold told Skidmore.
The judge continued Skidmore’s bond conditions and that he remain free on bond.
The judge also thanked the 12 jurors for their service.
“It’s often easy to sit in one’s house and read about these cases in the newspaper and then to make a decision based on what you read or what people hear or what you perceive to be the facts,” Reinbold said. “It’s quite different when you sit in a jury and you listen to the facts presented in the courtroom …”
“We have watched you over this period of time and you have taken your job very seriously and have done an outstanding in the decisions that you have rendered.”
