LABOR DISPUTE Assault sentence is stayed

The judge said the man's actions exceeded all bounds of decency.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Michael Romano, found guilty of assaulting a union organizer and breaking his video camera, was sentenced today to 60 days in jail, which a municipal judge stayed pending an appeal.
Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly sentenced Romano, 38, of Wampum, Pa., a paver, to 180 days in jail on the assault charge and suspended 120, allowing him work release privileges for the 60 days. She gave him 90 days on the criminal damaging conviction and suspended it all.
The judge imposed $750 in fines and ordered him to pay $2,130, the cost of the jury trial. She also ordered Romano to attend anger management classes and placed him on two years' probation.
Stay granted
Romano's Youngstown attorney, James S. Gentile, advised the judge that the conviction would be appealed. The judge then granted a stay of the sentence, as required with misdemeanors.
Gentile, in explaining the assault, told the judge that things got out of hand and his client used bad judgment. The lawyer had asked for a sentence of probation, pointing out that Romano has no criminal record.
Romano told Judge Kobly today that he is sorry for what happened and that if he could take it all back he would.
In response, Judge Kobly glared at Romano and said all the men involved in the altercation "acted like little boys on a playground." She said Romano's actions exceeded all bounds of decency and, like the jury, she didn't believe him.
Romano, who testified on his own behalf, claimed self-defense in the beating in October 2003 of Blaine Daugherty III, 31, of Willoughby Hills, Ohio.
Deadlocked on brother
Dana C. Guarnieri, an assistant city prosecutor, said an assault charge will not be pursued again against Michael Romano's brother, Thomas, 34, of New Castle. The jury that found Michael guilty last month deadlocked when it considered the charge against his brother, and Judge Kobly declared a mistrial.
The Romano brothers work for their family's nonunion company, Cleveland Asphalt in Bessemer, Pa., which paved a section of West Rayen Avenue last October. At the time, Daugherty was a union organizer for Labor International Union of North America.
meade@vindy.com