By Ed Balint, The Canton Repository
CANTON A mistrial was declared Thursday after jurors couldn t reach a verdict in the case of a woman who contends she fatally shot her husband in self-defense after a confrontation in a vehicle in a church parking lot.
Deliberations began Tuesday morning and totaled about 25 hours before jurors said they were deadlocked over the fate of Classie Hawthorne in Stark County Common Pleas Court.
The 36-year-old Canton woman is charged with voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault in the death of Cleveland Hawthorne in May 2018.
The trial began last week and was handled by attorneys with the Ohio Attorney General s Office, who had been appointed special prosecutors.
Terry Cassidy also pleaded guilty to third-degree felony gross sexual imposition in Stark County Common Pleas Court.
The charges stemmed from sexual assaults between 2008 and 2012 when the victim was less than 10 years old, according to court records filed in the case by the Stark County Prosecutor s Office.
Judge Kristin Farmer sentenced Cassidy, who also will be a lifetime sex offender registrant.
The first-degree rape charge carried a potential sentence of three to 11 years in prison.
The victim and her family members did not appear at Friday s plea hearing and sentencing. Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Ashley Brahler said the victim was consulted about the resolution of the case.
They made small talk, exchanged greetings but didn t know each other well.
But on May 21, 2018, she found herself rushing to find Cleveland Hawthorne on his stomach in a nearby church parking lot on Concord Avenue SW. He had been shot in the chest and was taking his last breaths. I was tapping him and saying, Come on, come on, Maxwell recounted, her voice weakening. She heard him moaning. I was just crying, talking to him and he took one last moan, and that was it.
Maxwell described those events while testifying Thursday on the second day of Classie Hawthorne s voluntary manslaughter trial in the shooting death of her husband, Cleveland.
CANTON Richie Harper will walk his 7-year-old son to Dueber Elementary today for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began.
They are both excited that the first-grader will get to see his friends and teachers again after so many months of virtual learning.
The return is bittersweet for Harper as it comes with the backdrop of knowing that Dueber, a place he attended roughly 20 years ago, likely won’t be open for his son, Chandler Abbuhl, next school year.
Canton City Schools Superintendent Jeff Talbert last week unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan for Stark County’s largest school district that seeks to lower its operating costs, reduce the number of its facilities and staff to match its declining student enrollment while giving students more choices in school programming and extracurricular activities. If approved by the school board, the plan would take effect this fall.