Jury finds man innocent of kidnapping and assault

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He faces up to 51/2 years in prison on other charges.

WARREN — The jury in the Danny Parker trial returned innocent verdicts on charges of kidnapping and felonious assault Friday morning but found him guilty of lesser charges of abduction and assault.

The panel deliberated four hours starting Thursday afternoon. The 20-year-old Warren man was accused of hitting a former girlfriend with a punch to the face, tying her up and threatening to kill her while wearing a "Friday the 13th" hockey mask and holding a circular saw.

If Parker had been convicted of the original offenses, he could have been sentenced to five to 18 years in prison. When he is sentenced Sept. 11 by Judge Andrew Logan in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, he could get up to 51/2 years in prison.

Parker remains in Trumbull County Jail. Judge Logan revoked his bond after the guilty verdicts.

Kidnapping is a first-degree felony, and felonious assault is a second-degree felony. Abduction is a third-degree felony, and assault is a first-degree misdemeanor.

Guilty of lesser offenses

The jury found Parker guilty of what are called lesser included offenses. A lesser included offense shares some, but not all, of the elements of a greater criminal offense.

As an example, assault is a lesser included offense of rape, and unlawful entry is a lesser included offense of burglary.

Parker admitted having punched former girlfriend Lacy Wood on Feb. 4 in the house where he lived on West Market Street near Penn Avenue. During testimony he admitted that the punch knocked Wood unconscious, but he said he did it as a reflex to her kicking him in the groin area.

The encounter occurred as he pulled Wood off of his current girlfriend at the time, Ashley Sechler, while the two women were fighting.

Sechler testified that Parker used the mask while terrorizing Wood in the basement of the house, but Parker denied having used the mask or saw, and denied causing all the injuries Wood received to her face.

Saturday, August 18, 2007