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Prosecutors seek to revoke bond of beating suspect
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Judge Shirley J. Christian said she will decide next week if she will approve a request by prosecutors to revoke the bond of a man accused of beating his girlfriend and trying to set his house on fire.
After a hearing Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Judge Christian said she will make her ruling after she receives other evidence from prosecutors she needs to decide if she should revoke the bond for Ronald Magby, 57, of Megan Circle.
Neither she nor attorneys would say in open court what that evidence is.
Magby was picked up last week for violating terms of a 10 percent, $50,000 bond he received in municipal court and posted that barred him from having any contact with the woman he is accused of beating and sending to the hospital Nov. 24 at his home.
He faces charges of kidnapping, felonious assault, aggravated arson, attempted murder and attempted aggravated murder.
When police responded to the home, Magby, who they said tried to set the home on fire, ran out of the home on fire himself and tried to drive away while he was still ablaze. A police officer used his electronic stun weapon on Magby. He was then treated for his burns at Akron Children’s Hospital before being arrested Dec. 24.
He is accused of calling the mother of his victim and asking her to relay a message for him.
Both the victim and her 82-year-old mother testified at the hearing. The victim said she never spoke to Magby but she felt fear and intimidation because he called for her.
The mother said the first time she talked to Magby, it was after her son gave her a number to call, and when she called it, Magby answered.
“I didn’t know who it was until he got on the phone,” the mother said.
She said he also called her home and asked her to get her daughter to drop the charges against him.
“He told me she [the victim] don’t even have to come to court,” the mother testified.
The mother admitted she asked Magby how he was doing because she said she feels bad for him.
“I was mad because he tried to kill my daughter,” the mother said. “But he’s a human being, and I feel sorry for him.”