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Man gets five years for slashing other man's throat
By JOE GORMAN
WARREN
A Girard man who was being sentenced Thursday for slashing another man’s throat outside a bar in November told Judge Ronald Rice of Trumbull County Common Pleas he has no idea why he did it.
“I don’t know,” said 22-year-old James Egner of Lawrence Avenue, who received a five-year sentence for attacking 24-year-old Zachary Travis outside the Hole in the Wall Club on East Park Avenue in Niles on Nov. 16.
Travis spoke before Egner was sentenced for the felonious assault, saying the attack came after he walked out of the bar and that Egner ran after him, threw him to the ground, raised his head and slashed his throat with some type of knife. Travis said he does not know Egner and never did.
“I’m lucky to be here,” Travis said. “This guy tried to kill me for no reason.”
Travis said others watched the attack and did nothing to stop it.
“He peeled my head back and he said, ‘I’m going to kill him,’ and all those people were hooting and cheering him on,” Travis said.
Travis said he lost his job after the attack and has unpaid medical bills because he was not working.
James Wise, Egner’s attorney, said his client already has served six months in the county jail awaiting sentencing. He originally was charged with attempted murder but pleaded guilty to the felonious-assault charge April 8.
Wise said Egner needs help with his alcohol problem and he told the judge that Egner had been accepted into a local treatment center, should he not receive a prison sentence. He suggested a sentence with a long probation period and the stipulation that Egner not be allowed to drink alcohol.
Judge Rice said he was having trouble grasping why Egner would chase down Travis. A fight Travis was in with another person already was over, and Travis was leaving.
“What in your wildest imagination makes you think you have a right once an altercation is over to run someone down and slit his throat?” Judge Rice asked.
Egner also said when first questioned by Judge Rice that he did not have a knife but later admitted he did. Assistant Prosecutor Michael Burnett said that proves Egner had not taken responsibility for his actions.
Judge Rice also said he was troubled by Egner’s prior criminal record, which included two driving- under-the-influence arrests. Egner said he could not explain why he attacked Travis.
“It was poor judgment,” Egner said. “It’s the worst decision I’ve ever made.”