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Champ’s brother’s hearing postponed
YOUNGSTOWN — Michael Pavlik Jr., brother of middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik, has been given a little more time to prepare his defense against a felony charge filed against him earlier this year.
Pavlik, 33, appeared Tuesday before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for a pretrial hearing on a felony charge of domestic violence. The charge is a felony because the victim in the case was pregnant at the time of the incident.
Gabriel Wildman, an assistant county prosecutor, told the court that negotiations between prosecutors and the defense have been going forward and an offer of a plea agreement made. Pavlik, through his attorney Ben Joltin, had not accepted that agreement.
Joltin asked the court if he could have the case continued for several weeks because is he trying to locate a witness who can rebut the anticipated testimony of the victim in the case.
Joltin also told the court that there are witnesses who may be able to offer testimony toward Pavlik’s knowledge, or lack thereof, of the victim’s pregnancy. He also said there are juvenile witnesses to the incident who need to be evaluated.
Judge Krichbaum questioned why all the preparation had not been completed before the pretrial date but ultimately did grant the continuance in the case.
Pavlik waived his right to a speedy trial. He will likely appear for a pretrial hearing again in about four weeks and potentially go to trial a week after the pretrial if there is no negotiated plea agreement.
Pavlik is charged with punching a 33-year-old woman in the right eye, throwing her onto a glass coffee table and dragging her across the floor.
The accuser said Pavlik punched her in her nose, slammed her against a wall and threatened to kill her and himself if she went to the police.
Officers 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 shortly after the late-November incident.
Michael Pavlik, who surrendered to police shortly afterward, has been a cornerman, team coordinator and media handler for his brother’s boxing enterprise.