Judge orders sensitivity course
Perry County man also sentenced to 10 days in jail in assault case
NEW LEXINGTON — A white Perry County man found guilty last week of assaulting his Black neighbor has been sentenced to 10 days in jail and ordered to complete a racial sensitivity training course, the latter a first for a sentencing in the county.
Visiting Judge Jerry Catanzaro has also ordered 55-year-old Joseph Mccabe to pay $2,583 in restitution to cover the cost of dental care and eyeglasses for 65-year-old Leon Davis, whose teeth were knocked out during the July 5, 2020 assault.
In a last-ditch effort to avoid jail time, Mccabe’s attorney, Benjamin Fickel, petitioned the judge to consider granting his client house arrest.
“He’s playing the race card,” Mccabe said of Davis, who sat across the courtroom at the sentencing Monday. “He was not assaulted. I was the one assaulted. I went home to lick my wounds and didn’t get the opportunity to file charges.”
Davis scoffed. Catanzaro, a visiting judge from Pike County assigned to the case, was unswayed.
“It’s clear (Mccabe has) got a race issue,” Catanzaro said to Fickel.
After giving both Davis and Mccabe ample opportunity to speak, Catanzaro sentenced Mccabe to six months in jail with all but 10 days suspended.
In addition to the racial sensitivity training — a first for Catanzaro in a sentencing — the judge ordered Mccabe to complete an anger management and drug and alcohol assessment.
Mccabe will also have to pay more than $4,000 in outstanding court fees from previous misdemeanor charges in the Perry County Municipal Court, Catanzaro ruled, including an operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated offense and other traffic violations.
If Mccabe violates any of the conditions of his parole, the judge warned he would likely end up serving the remaining 170 days of his sentence.
“You can’t come in here and tell me you’re not guilty and you’re the victim and Mr. Davis isn’t,” Catanzaro said to Mccabe after issuing his sentencing.
Mccabe adamantly denied he was a racist, repeatedly referring to his “two beautiful, biracial grandchildren” and what he alleged was “false testimony” from witnesses that New Lexington assistant village solicitor Adam Barclay called to the stand during last week’s two-day trial.
While the jury rejected that Mccabe attacked Davis with racist motivations by dismissing the additional misdemeanor charges filed against him, including aggravated menacing and ethnic intimidation — Ohio’s sole hate crime statute — Catanzaro said racial sensitivity training was necessary.
“I know this was an ugly case and I hope I’ll never have another like it,” Cantanzaro said.
The judge acknowledged that any kind of bias or diversity, equity and inclusion training Mccabe undergoes will never heal Davis’ wounds, but added: “Maybe, it’s going to help another Mr. Davis in the future.”
After the bailiff led Mccabe away, Davis stood outside the courthouse next to his wife, Ronda, and attorneys from the Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center (OCVJC), the nonprofit agency representing Davis.
“The sentence is not what I desired,” Davis said, “but I am forced to accept it because that’s what the law prescribed.”
Barclay said he was satisfied with the conviction and the court’s order to pay restitution, adding that the judge’s call to force Mccabe to attend a racial sensitivity training was a first for the county.
While Mccabe’s case is closed, the outcome for Charles Williams and Carl Finck, the two other co-defendants accused of assisting Mccabe in attacking Davis, is still up in the air.
After a series of miscommunications left Davis and his victim’s advocate out of the courtroom during Williams’ and Finck’s plea agreements earlier this spring, the victim justice center representing Davis filed a motion re-open their guilty pleas.
OCVJC attorneys have argued that Davis’ constitutional right to be present for all hearings as a victim was violated under Marsy’s Law, which grants legal protections to crime victims and passed by Ohio voters in 2017.
Catanzaro is expected to rule on the OCVJC’S motion to re-open Finck’ and Williams’ cases soon.
Céilí Doyle is a Report for America corps member and covers rural issues in Ohio for The Dispatch. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at https://bit.ly/3fnsgaz. cdoyle@dispatch.com @cadoyle_18