Joseph Boyer speaks with defense attorney T. Robert Bricker after being convicted. (Photo: Mary Ann Greier)

LISBON — Joseph Boyer granted his request for a jury trial to tell his side of the story about the 2022 stabbing attack on his ex-girlfriend, but the jury found him guilty Tuesday and he will return to prison for eight to 12 years.

“His explanation of what happened was rejected by the jury and frankly didn’t make any sense to me.” Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam said before sentencing the 52-year-old former East Liverpool resident.

Washam sentenced Boyer to eight to 12 years in prison for aggravated assault, a second-degree crime, and 18 months in prison for domestic violence, a fourth-degree crime; However, this sentence will be served concurrently. He received credit for 785 days already served since his arrest on July 7, 2022, when the attack in East Liverpool took place. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction may decide to add up to four years on top of the eight years.

Deputy District Attorney Tammie Riley Jones, who prosecuted the case with Deputy County Attorney Steve Yacovone, recommended a consecutive sentence of eight to 12 years for the aggravated assault charge and one year for the domestic violence charge, for a total of at least nine years. He received his first sentence in April 2023, before his conviction was overturned by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the case was sent back to the county. Before he was first convicted, he pleaded guilty to both charges before filing a motion to withdraw his plea. The judge rejected the request to withdraw the plea, which the appeals court said was a mistake.

The jury of 11 men and one woman returned guilty verdicts on both charges, with the additional finding that the man had previous convictions for domestic violence. The verdict came just an hour after jurors received the case at a trial that began Monday morning.

“I think the jury came to the right decision. Frankly, we are very happy that the victim finally got justice,” he said. Yacovone said after the sentence:

Jones described the attack as brutal, causing serious injuries to the victim’s neck and wrist, requiring surgery and therapy to repair the tendons in his wrist. He said there was no indication that the crime was committed by the victim. He also said Boyer showed no remorse for his actions, blaming almost everyone but himself.

The victim, who testified and was present for the verdict and sentencing, chose not to speak in court, but Jones said she was relieved to know Boyer could not harm her or anyone else.

“He was obviously dealing with a lot of issues when this happened.” defense attorney T. Robert Bricker said about his client.

Bricker suggested it might be more productive to give him probation so he could work on his problems instead of prison.

“I’m very sorry for what I did” Boyer claimed to have asked for forgiveness from the victim hundreds of times. “This is between me and him and God.”

He said he hopes God can forgive him and that he can forgive her too one day.

In a rambling account of their relationship and the incident he claimed occurred on July 7, 2022, Boyer described how he met the victim and divorced his wife to be with her. They eventually moved in together and were both alcoholics who drank constantly. He admitted he should not have been at the Ogden Street residence in East Liverpool where they lived because of a contact ban imposed when he was convicted of domestic violence a month ago.

He claimed that he was drunk when he returned home on July 7, 2022, after spending the night across the street due to an argument with the victim. He claimed that he woke her up in her bedroom, they had sexual intercourse, she went to the toilet, he went to the living room where his roommate was, and the victim cheated on him with another man. The victim then came out and asked why he said that when he knew how she was doing.

She said there was a lot of yelling, he called her a whore, then he grabbed a knife and tried to take it from her, she said they wrestled for the knife and he took it from her, claiming he was on top of her. He pulled the butcher knife from it and when he looked down he saw that it had been cut. Then he said he reached for the other knife and “I hit him with that butcher knife. I hit his hand.”

She said Edward Gregory, who she claimed was cheating on her, was already on his way and told her to get out and take him to the hospital.

The victim’s statement the day before was quite different but consistent with what he had said all along. She was asleep on the couch when he walked in and started arguing with her, pulling her hair, then went into the kitchen and took a knife, slashing her neck multiple times and slitting her wrist. He thought he was going to die.

Throughout his testimony, Boyer said how much he still loved her and claimed his clothes were stained with blood because he hugged her before leaving. There were also what Jones called pretexts in his deposition to counter the testimony of other witnesses earlier in the day about his call to the victim from prison on July 22, 2022, and what he said to a corrections officer at the prison on July 8. , 2022.

Jennifer Tedrow, an investigator with the District Attorney’s Office, testified that she later reviewed the jailhouse call played for the jury. During the conversation between Boyer and the victim, Boyer said he did not believe he did this to her and did not know why he had that knife. The victim was heard asking him why he had two knives in his truck, and he replied that the only two knives he had were in the living room where the attack took place.

Tedrow said that according to jail call records, Boyer attempted to call the victim almost 2,000 times since the attack, and only 200 of the calls were answered. The last call was last week. He reviewed more than 100 calls and Boyer talked to the victim about coming to court.

“The defendant did not want the victim to come to court” he said.

Former county jail corrections officer Marisha Heaven also testified and said that as she escorted Boyer to the hearing room on July 8, 2022, she asked him why he had returned. He knew him from being in prison before.

“He said his girlfriend cheated on him and slit his throat” He said heaven.

She thought he was joking and even asked if it was a joke, and he said no. He did not know why he was there at the time and noted that normally two officers would have accompanied him in this situation. One of the charges against him at the time was attempted murder, but this charge was later dropped due to legal problems. She said he then threatened to kill her.

The state rested its case at 9:17 a.m. following Heaven’s statement. Boyer was the defense’s only witness and claimed that he was trashed in jail after his arrest and that he overheard some other officers say he had slit the old woman’s throat, and that he was merely repeating what they said when testifying to Heaven. The victim claimed that he never threatened to kill anyone, including Gregory, Heaven, and others who claimed so.

“I’m sorry for the knife I took” he said.

“It was definitely the excitement of the moment. “I never wanted that girl to get hurt.” He said about the victim: “I will love him until the day I take my last breath.”

During closing arguments, Yacovone addressed both charges and explained how all elements of each were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. He said the defendant’s version of events did not make sense and asked jurors to remember the demeanor of both the victim and the defendant when giving evidence.

Bricker claimed his client was honest and asked jurors to look at inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony. He said the evidence did not show it was a malicious attack. Jones disputed this, saying it was a brutal and brutal attack and that the defendant was saying what he had done. The injuries were not accidental.

Washam told Boyer he had the right to appeal the sentence.

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