Jury convicts man in felonious assault case

Jury convicts man in felonious assault case

youngstown

A jury convicted 35-year-old Terrell Vaughn just after 12 p.m. today of felonious assault for the severe beating of a man April 21 on an East Side street.

Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court immediately revoked Vaughn’s bond and he will be held in the Mahoning County jail pending his sentencing, which is tentatively set for Friday.

Jurors were seated Wednesday and began deliberations about 9:50 a.m. today. Vaughn is accused of being one of three men who beat 41-year-old Emil Smith so severely he needs a wheelchair and has trouble speaking. The beating happened after Smith made an obscene gesture to the men in an SUV behind him who were honking their horn because he was stopped in the middle of the street trying to fix his car radio.

Vaughn was originally charged with attempted murder but prosecutors downgraded the charge to felonious assault because they thought they could not prove Vaughn was trying to kill Smith.

The other two men in the SUV remain unknown to police.