COURT Judge suspends sentence, orders probation for woman in assault

YOUNGSTOWN -- With the belief that an East Side woman has learned her lesson, a judge suspended the rest of her six-month jail sentence and placed her on one year's probation.
On Tuesday, a jury found Donna Butler, 45, of Byron Street, guilty of assaulting her daughter-in-law last summer.
Butler's lawyer, Robert Rohrbaugh, filed a motion asking Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to reconsider his sentence.
During a hearing Friday, Rohrbaugh pointed out that Butler had served 89 days in jail awaiting trial, or nearly three months, and the judge had given her credit for time served.
That means Butler would have had to serve just three more months in jail before she was released.
Sheriff's letter
All common pleas court judges had received a letter from Sheriff Randall Wellington asking them to consider releasing prisoners early or suspending their remaining sentences if those prisoners were close to completing their time in an effort to reduce the jail's population in light of deputy layoffs.
Judge Krichbaum said he was taking his action to release Butler not because of the letter, but rather because he was satisfied that "justice had been served" and that Butler had learned her lesson.
He ordered Butler to abide by the probation guidelines set forth by the Community Corrections Association. If she violates probation, the judge could send her back to jail to serve the remaining three months of her sentence.
Testimony showed that Butler used an aluminum baseball bat on her daughter-in-law, then punched the victim several times in the face.