2 men arraigned in Youngstown on domestic violence charges

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Two men were arraigned on domestic violence charges Friday in municipal court.

One of them, Keith Black, 26, of Youngstown, was given a bond of $50,000 following his arraignment after he was arrested about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday in a running car in front of a home in the 200 block of Seneca Avenue.

Assistant Prosecutor Shelli Freeze asked Visiting Judge Barbara Watson for a $50,000 bond, saying that Black has past convictions for drugs and has a jury trial set for Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court before Judge Maureen Sweeney on three counts of felonious assault.

Black was spotted by officers on patrol who said they knew a woman had filed a domestic violence complaint against him. He was ordered out of his car and he complied with officers. Reports said the car smelled heavily of marijuana and police found a marijuana cigarette inside as well as a holster for a .45-caliber handgun. No gun was found in the car or on Black, reports said.

Black was taken to the Mahoning County jail on the warrant and was also cited for possession of marijuana.

Also arraigned Friday on two counts of domestic violence was Aaron Hartley, 43, of Elm Street, who was arrested about 10:10 p.m. after officers were called to his home for the second time that day for a fight between him and a woman he lives with. Reports said when officers arrived a 7-year-old girl who lives there told police Hartley had threatened to kill the woman, who is her mother, while she slept. Reports said he had also been beating his son earlier in the day over missing school.

In court Freeze said that one of the domestic violence charges was a felony because of a case this past summer, but Hartley said prosecutors had mistaken that case and that it was son who was convicted of domestic violence, not him.

However, court records show that Hartley pleaded no contest and was found guilty of domestic violence in 2009. The victim in that case was the same woman he was arguing with Wednesday, according to court records.

Judge Watson set his bond at $12,500.