Grand jury indicts Michael Pavlik on felony domestic violence

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County grand jury has indicted Michael Pavlik Jr., 33, of Cornell Avenue, on a domestic violence charge alleging he assaulted a pregnant 33-year-old woman Nov. 27 in his residence.

Pavlik is a brother of middlewight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik and has been a cornerman, team coordinator and media handler for the champion.

The domestic violence charge on which Michael Pavlik Jr. was indicted is a fifth degree felony, carrying a possible 6 to 12 months in prison, because of the alleged victim’s pregnancy. The indictment says the defendant knew the woman was pregnant when he assaulted her.

The grand jury, which met Thursday, did not indict Michael Pavlik Jr. on an abduction charge City Prosecutor Jay Macejko had lodged against him for allegedly restraining the woman’s liberty.

After Michael Pavlik Jr.’s initial appearance this week in Youngstown Municipal Court, his lawyer, Ben Joltin, said his client emphatically asserts his innocence and believes he will be exonerated.

Michael Pavlik Jr., who is free on bond, is accused of punching the woman in her right eye, throwing her onto a glass coffee table and dragging her across the floor.

Police said they observed a black and blue right eye, a swollen face, lips and nose and multiple bruises on the accuser’s legs while she was being treated in the St. Elizabeth Health Center emergency room.