Co-defendant says she used rock to injure victim's hand

By Chris Cotelesse

TheNewsOutlet.Com

YOUNGSTOWN

Dezerah Silsby, a codefendant in a federal labor-trafficking conspiracy trial, testified Friday in Ohio’s Northern District Federal Court that she used a rock to injure a woman’s hand, to help two others fraudulently obtain painkillers.

Silsby has pleaded guilty under a sealed plea agreement to charges of conspiracy and acquiring a controlled substance by deception. The terms state that federal prosecutors will move to drop the most severe charges of forced labor and theft of government benefits for Silsby’s cooperation.

The plea agreement could mean the difference between up to nine years in prison instead of up to 39 for Silsby, but federal justice Benita Pearson instructed the jury that the decision rests at her bench.

“I will decide whether to dismiss any charges at a later time,” she said.

On the fourth day of the trial for her codefendants Jessica Hunt, 31, and Jordie Callahan, 26, Silsby said that she intentionally injured the alleged victim, referred to as S.E. in court documents, to obtain pain-relieving drugs from a local emergency room.

The victim “put her hand on the step, and I picked up the rock and slammed her hand with it,” Silsby said, adding that the rock was bigger than her own hand.

Prosecutors introduced a photo of the injury showing swollen hands and parts where the rock had broken the skin. They allege the victim sustained the injury at the hands of Hunt and Callahan to obtain drugs by fraud.

Silsby testified that S.E. suggested Silsby injure her hand with the rock, that Callahan was “moody” and looking for drugs.

“S.E. and I were just trying to get (Hunt and Callahan) to stop fighting,” Silsby said.

Prosecutors need to convince the 14-member jury that Hunt and Callahan “knowingly and intentionally acquired possession of a controlled substance … by misrepresentation, fraud, deception or subterfuge.”

Prosecutors also used Silsby’s testimony to accuse Hunt of manipulating S.E. for access to her Social Security income.

Ashland police officer Craig Kiley also testified regarding S.E.’s arrest for shoplifting at a Walmart on East Main Street on March 27, 2011. He said she was so dirty that dirt from her feet had been transferred to a brand new pair of shoes S.E. was convicted of stealing.

“There was dirt throughout that whole mess,” he said.

According to a trial brief, “the government expects to have victim S.E. testify” before the case is finished.

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