MAHONING COUNTY COURT Handyman pleads guilty to beating former employer

The assault began when the woman opened a door to let her dog come inside.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Arnold Stone leaned forward, smiled and answered politely as he pleaded guilty to brutally assaulting a woman with a wooden bat and a hammer, and then trying to set her house ablaze.
The 42-year-old city man, who lists addresses on both Northwood and St. Louis avenues, could get up to 23 years in prison when he is sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Authorities say that in October 2001, Stone broke into the North Truesdale Avenue home of Barbara Heath, for whom he had once worked as a handyman, beat her and left her bleeding on the floor.
What happened
Heath told The Vindicator shortly after the assault that she opened her front door to let her dog come inside. When she opened the door, Stone was waiting outside and clubbed her in the head and face with a baseball bat.
She said Stone followed her inside, where she collapsed and covered her head with her arms. Stone continued hitting her until the bat cracked. Then he got a mallet from a kitchen drawer and hit her again. The beating stopped only after the victim's home burglar alarm sounded.
Before he left, Stone set fire to clothing in Heath's basement. Heath crawled to safety at a neighbor's house after Stone fled.
"Believe it or not, this is his first offense," defense attorney Dennis DiMartino said to Visiting Judge Charles J. Bannon. "I told him he picked a hell of a way to get into the criminal justice system."
Lived in same house
DiMartino said that besides working for Heath, Stone once lived in the same house with her. He said "some events occurred that caused friction between them," but did not elaborate. No reason was given for the assault.
DiMartino said a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation showed that Stone was sane and mentally competent at the time of the crime.
A county grand jury indicted Stone in November 2001 on charges of attempted murder, aggravated arson and aggravated burglary, all first-degree felonies.
In exchange for Stone's plea of guilty, Assistant Prosecutor Robert Andrews reduced the attempted murder charge to felonious assault, and the aggravated charge to arson.
Potential sentence
Judge Bannon said the Ohio Adult Parole Authority will do a background check on Stone before he is sentenced. The judge could sentence Stone to a minimum of three years and a maximum of 23 years behind bars.
Heath was not in court for the hearing, but Andrews said she approved the plea agreement.
bjackson@vindy.com