Dewitt sentenced to four years for assaulting guard

By Jane Beathard

Staff Writer

A former Madison Correctional Institution (McCI) inmate accused of a March 4 assault that left guard Jeremy Yantes seriously injured pleaded guilty to the crime on Friday in Madison County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Robert D. Nichols sentenced Keith DeWitt, 23, now an inmate at London Correctional Institution (LoCI), to an additional four years behind bars for assaulting Yantes, along with MaCI guards Travis Venable and Jerell Harris, who came to Yantes’ assistance. DeWitt was already serving eight years for a 2009 felonious assault in Stark County at the time of the attack on Yantes.

DeWitt’s plea came after about 45 minutes of negotiations between the inmate, assistant public defender Bill Mooney and assistant county prosecutor Eamon Costello.

DeWitt faced up to 10 additional years in prison and a $20,000 fine for the convictions, that included both felonious assault and assault on a corrections officer.

In court, DeWitt argued that House Bill 86, Ohio’s new sentencing guidelines, makes him eligible for judicial (early) release from prison. But Nichols said he interprets HB-86 in a different way and that DeWitt’s sentence for the second-degree felony is mandatory.

The case drew intense media attention in March as Yantes struggled to recover from a severe head injury and members of the guard’s union demonstrated in opposition to Senate Bill 5, the effort to restrict collective bargaining for Ohio’s public employees.

Also on Friday, Brandon A. Risner, 21, now an inmate at LoCI, was sentenced to seven additional months in prison for assaulting two MaCI guards on June 28.

An additional charge of possessing criminal tools was dismissed by the prosecutor’s office.

Risner is currently serving 2.5 years for a 2010 breaking and entering conviction in Logan County.

In a separate case, Kyle D. Cordle, 19, formerly of 149 Lomar Court, West Jefferson, was sentenced to six months in Tri-County Regional Jail and a year of community control for forgery and receiving stolen property.

Cordle pleaded guilty in September to the charges. He’s been in jail since June 14 and will receive credit for time served.

Nichols denied drug treatment in lieu of conviction for Cordle, after an assessment showed the man was essentially homeless, had no support system and would likely not remain drug free.

In addition, the judge said Cordle was caught “snorting” bath salts while in jail.

“Is there no sanctity in the county jail?” Nichols asked.