Hearing to decide if man goes back to prison in threat case

YOUNGSTOWN — Kenneth Favors will face a hearing July 20 to determine whether he will be sent back to complete the four-year prison term he received last September for threatening to kill Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, of the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, and his wife, Sharon.

Favors, 53, of West Delason Avenue, was released from prison in April after serving seven months of a four-year prison term.

But Favors surrendered to Youngstown police June 7 after a warrant was issued for his arrest, charging him with assaulting a woman with a vacuum cleaner May 31 in Youngstown. A court document said he hit her in the stomach, back and legs.

Favors, who has been in Mahoning County Jail without bail on the earlier charges of intimidation and retaliation involving the Krichbaums, appeared in common pleas court Tuesday for a probable cause hearing. He is also facing a charge of assault in the May 31 incident.

Visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran from Cuyahoga County ruled Tuesday there was probable cause that Favors had violated his probation. Judge Curran also presided in the original case involving the Krichbaums, in which Favors pleaded guilty to third-degree felony charges.

Judge Curran granted Favors early release as part of a plea agreement the prosecution reached with Favors. The agreement said he would serve as little as six months in prison and be put on five years’ probation if he behaved well in prison.

Assistant Prosecutor Tim Franken said Favors gets credit for the 502 days he spent in Mahoning County Jail before he pleaded guilty to the threats against the Krichbaums. He faces a possibility of going to back to prison for about 18 months, he said.