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Man gets five years in Campbell beating case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A woman who was severely beaten in September in her Campbell home told a judge she slept with her daughter after the attack because she was afraid to be alone and she would call the jail repeatedly to make sure the man arrested for the crime was still there.
The woman told Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court just before she sentenced James Thompson, 31, who has addresses on Marion Street and Struthers Liberty Road in Campbell, she will never forget the attack, in which Thompson is accused of breaking into her home and beating and strangling her.
“I will never forget the images of him over top of me saying he was going to kill me,” the victim said Tuesday.
Thompson pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of felonious assault and burglary, both second-degree felonies. Judge Sweeney sentenced him to five years in prison.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin said Thompson broke into the victim’s home while she was sleeping and beat her severely, including using a barbell at one point. She asked that Thompson be sent to prison, saying he has past felony and misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence.
“This is an offender who does have a track record for violent offenses,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said Thompson was the victim’s ex-boyfriend.
Thompson’s attorney, Tony Meranto, said his client knew he was going to prison, but he asked the judge for a lenient sentence. Meranto said the attack on the victim was “atrocious,” but added his client took responsibility for his actions and spared the victim from having to testify at trial.
The victim told Judge Sweeney that Thompson called her home 56 times the night she was attacked but she never answered. She said Thompson threatened to kill her before the attack and threatened to do it while she was sleeping. She said Thompson broke in, took her phone and keys and proceeded to beat her.
“I was begging for him to stop and begging for my life,” the victim said.
The victim also said she still has blurred vision in one eye and a gash in her head from the 10-pound barbell Thompson hit her in the head with, along with a fractured jaw.
All Thompson would say before the sentence was imposed was, “I take full responsibility for my actions.”
Thompson was given credit for 93 days served in the county jail while awaiting the outcome of his case.