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Man gets 90 days for assaulting woman
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
William Black and the woman he was found guilty of beating had a relationship that went back to when the pair were in high school.
Later, it intensified when the 55-year-old Black served a drug sentence in federal prison.
That woman showed Judge Elizabeth Kobly on Monday a huge clump of hair that was ripped out of her skull when she was dragged up a flight of stairs by Black, who was convicted of misdemeanor assault July 30 during a bench trial in municipal court by the judge.
“I felt like a rag doll in a cage with a monster,” the 53-year-old woman told the judge of the beating.
Reports said police were called to Black’s home in the 400 block of Carlotta Avenue about 11:15 p.m. Feb. 27, where the woman told police she had told Black she wanted to end their relationship, and Black responded by punching her then dragging her up a flight of stairs by her hair.
She called the attack “evil” and added, “I don’t understand why.”
Damian Billak, Black’s attorney, said his client and the woman were friends going back decades, and somehow the relationship intensified when Black was serving a federal prison sentence on drug charges.
Billak said his client has a job and is about to start his own business, and he asked for a sentence of house arrest, saying that the probation violation Black faces from federal authorities for the guilty verdict will be greater than any Judge Kobly can impose on him.
Billak said Black faces a federal probation-violation sentence of five to 11 months. The maximum penalty for misdemeanor assault is six months in the Mahoning County jail.
Black declined to speak before he was sentenced.
Judge Kobly said a jail sentence was necessary because of Black’s conduct.
“If you want to act like an animal, I’ll be happy to put you in a cage,” Judge Kobly said.
Billak asked the judge to stay Black’s sentence because he is appealing the verdict. Judge Kobly said once Billak files the paperwork for the appeal, she will set a bond for Black, who can be free during the appeal if he posts the bond.