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Man gets year in jail for beating girlfriend, son
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
James Rammel’s drunken late-night craving for mashed potatoes landed him a year in jail.
Rammel, 31, of North Schneley Avenue, received the sentence Thursday in municipal court from Judge Elizabeth Kobly on two misdemeanor counts of domestic violence for beating his girlfriend and her son because she would not make him mashed potatoes when he came home drunk late May 28.
He also received an additional six months on driving under suspension and hit-and-run charges for hitting a vehicle on an Interstate 680 off ramp May 15, then driving away because he did not have a driver’s license.
Judge Kobly said if she could, she would give him even more time.
“You are a menace, Mr. Rammel,” Judge Kobly told him.
The girlfriend told Judge Kobly she had been with Rammel for five months before the night he was arrested. She said the entire time was bad.
“All the time, he was drinking,” she said.
Assistant Prosecutor Jeffrey Moliterno told the judge Rammel had come home just before midnight May 28 and was drunk and wanted mashed potatoes. When the girlfriend refused, he attacked her.
Judge Kobly asked her why she didn’t leave him, and the girlfriend said she loved him. Judge Kobly said, however, she did not deserve to be treated the way she was.
“I know,” the woman answered.
The woman said Rammel punched and choked her. “My son told him to stop, and he punched him in the face like he was a grown man,” the woman said. “I don’t deserve this, and neither does my son.”
Judge Kobly asked Rammel, “When are you going to grow up?”
“Right now,” Rammel answered.
“I don’t believe you,” Judge Kobly said. “How dare you get physical with this woman and her child. How dare you. Maybe you’ll get put in a cell with a 300-pound weight lifter and maybe then you’ll see what it feels like.”
Regarding the traffic charges, reports said Rammel hit a car then drove away. The driver followed him to his home and called police. He has a resisting-arrest conviction from February, and Moliterno said he also has a previous conviction for cruelty to animals.
Besides the jail time, Rammel also faces three years’ probation when he is released and can do community service to pay off his fines.