Champion man takes plea, avoids trial

A Champion man avoided trial on Monday by taking a plea to two counts of felonious assault for an incident in which an officer was struck with an ax.

Randy Pence, 40, of Copeland Drive, will be sentenced on Nov. 2, by Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice for the two first-degree felonies.

He is looking at a maximum 22 to 27 1/2 years in prison, but Judge Rice will also consider Pence’s background report that will be compiled by probation officers.

The pleas offset a jury trial that was scheduled to begin with jury selection at 8:30 a.m. Monday. Prospective jurors were sent home after the guilty pleas were recorded.

What was Randy Pence arrested for?

Pence was charged after township police were called Sept. 11, 2022, to a Meadowbrook Drive home in Warren Township after a man had barricaded himself in a shed after reportedly hitting the man living there with an ax, cutting his arm.

The man, identified as Pence, argued with responding police officers saying they had no right to be there and warned officers he would defend himself if anyone came into the shed.

Officers administered pepper spray after breaking the front window to the shed, the report stated.

Pence then put items in front of the door so officers could not breach. As officers managed to open the door a few inches, the man reportedly threw a hatchet through the gap, striking one of the officers on his arm. The officer was not seriously injured.

Pence was eventually apprehended after a sheriff’s deputy deployed a Taser weapon through the broken window and officers broke through the door.

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