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Man gets year in assault case after victim urges mercy
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Although he has to go to therapy five times a week and take medication four times a week for a beating he suffered, Melvin Young told Judge Maureen Sweeney on Wednesday he still did not want the man accused of beating him to go to prison.
Speaking at the sentencing hearing for 23-year-old Donald Wells II in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Young said he forgives Wells and hopes the lesson has helped him learn to change his behavior.
“I don’t want to see him go to prison, but I want to see him get his act together,” Young said.
Wells pleaded guilty in August to a charge of aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony.
He originally was charged with felonious assault for the beating of Young.
Before his plea, Wells was accepted into mental-health court and released from jail, but he later was indicted along with two other people for a robbery in Mill Creek Park this summer.
He was then put back in the jail, and his case was no longer eligible to be heard in mental health court because of a stipulation that he have no contact with the law while his case was pending.
Young said he was given a concussion and other injuries during an attack by Wells and another man during a family dispute. He said recovery has been painful.
“He destroyed my family,” Young said.
But Young also told Judge Sweeney that he wanted leniency for Wells, especially because Wells is the father of a young child.
Wells told the judge he was sorry for his actions.
“I know sometimes I don’t think before I do stuff, but I’m learning,” Wells said. “All I can think about is my son.”
Wells was given credit for 135 days served in the county jail.
Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said police still are investigating the attack on Young and charges may be filed against the other person.