43
Macovitz gets six months in domestic violence case, forfeits more than 100 weapons
By joe gorman
youngstown
A man who was arrested four times in a four-month span for domestic violence, and five times overall this year, was sentenced to six months in the Mahoning County jail Friday.
The jail sentence is part of five years of community control, also known as probation, imposed by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum on 38-year-old Larry Macovitz of Sheridan Road.
Macovitz was in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to be sentenced for two counts of domestic violence, a third-degree felony.
As part of a plea deal by prosecutors, additional pending charges of domestic violence against Macovitz in Mahoning County Court in Boardman were dismissed in exchange for him forfeiting more than 100 weapons, most of them firearms, that will be destroyed.
As a now convicted felon, Macovitz is no longer allowed to legally own a firearm. He also was ordered to have no contact with his estranged wife when he gets out of jail.
The case that was dismissed stems from an incident Aug. 23. However, Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa said Macovitz’s estranged wife, who was the victim in that case, has recanted all her prior testimony, and without her testimony, there is a lack of evidence to prosecute Macovitz.
A presentence investigation recommended probation for Macovitz, who was arrested on domestic-violence charges by Jackson Township police in February, March, April, May and August. That August case also happened while Macovitz was out on bond, Judge Krichbaum said.
One of his attorneys, Mark Carfolo, said his client has had his “eyes opened” because of his arrest, and he added that Macovitz never has been in trouble until this year and that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from an incident that happened when he was his late teens.
The couple does have a divorce case pending in domestic-relations court, Carfolo said.
Macovitz apologized to his children, wife and the court and asked for mercy, saying he works hard to provide for his family and was never in trouble before this year.
Judge Krichbaum said he had problems with Macovitz’s wife recanting her testimony for the August charges because, based on her statements to police, her husband wound up in jail. He also said he was troubled that Macovitz was around his wife in August when he was out on bond and that he missed a court date in September and took nine days to turn himself in.
Judge Krichbaum said he did not want to put Macovitz in prison but added that having him on probation “grates me,” before deciding on the sentence. The five-year time period is the maximum time Macovitz can be on probation, and while he is on probation, he must complete anger-management classes.
Judge Krichbaum said that the maximum sentence is three years in prison, and should Macovitz violate any terms of his probation, he would send him to prison for six years.
Macovitz’s wife was in the courtroom but did not make a statement.