MAHONING COUNTY Defendant confesses assault

The defendant wore a mask to keep him from spitting on people in court.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Patrick Gaitor confessed one count of assaulting a jailer but wouldn't spit out any more words when asked about a second count.
After several minutes of silence, Judge Maureen A. Cronin grew tired of waiting for Gaitor to speak. She sentenced the 31-year-old North Worthington Street man to four years in prison for the one count to which he'd pleaded guilty.
Gaitor, wearing a mesh bag over his head to keep him from spitting on the judge or court staff, shouted, "Innocent!" as deputies led him out of the courtroom. Deputies had put the bag over his head because Gaitor has a history of spitting in court.
Gaitor was charged with two counts of felonious assault involving corrections officers at the Mahoning County Jail and was scheduled to go on trial Monday.
Plea agreement
His attorney, Mark Lavelle, and assistant prosecutor Kelly Johns negotiated a plea agreement Friday, though, in which Gaitor agreed to plead guilty to both counts.
The judge nearly pulled the plug on the plea deal when Gaitor refused to answer questions about whether he understood the rights he was giving up. Instead, he kept repeating, "I surrender," "When's this going to end?" and "It's your world."
After a brief meeting with the lawyers, Gaitor did plead guilty to one count, which alleged that he assaulted Deputy Joseph Iberis at the jail in January 2002. Johns said Iberis suffered a ruptured eardrum.
The second count involves a reported assault on Deputy Wilson Valentin in August 2002. Johns said Valentin suffered a broken nose.
When Judge Cronin asked him to enter a plea on that count, Gaitor leaned forward and used his handcuffs to scrape a gouge in the wooden railing in front of him.
After deputies grabbed him and pulled him back from the railing, Gaitor refused to say anything else.
Gaitor had already signed a written agreement in which he pleaded guilty, but under Ohio law the plea is not official until it's made in open court.
Johns said she's not sure what will happen with the second count now that Gaitor has already been sentenced on the first one.
bjackson@vindy.com