Former Ohio state Rep. Bob Young found guilty in domestic violence trial

Former Ohio state Rep. Bob Young was found guilty of domestic violence in court Thursday.

Visiting retired Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Judge Edward O’Farrell found Young guilty of intentionally harming his wife, Tina. This is a first-degree misdemeanor.

However, the North Canton Republican was acquitted of the assault charge against his brother Michael.

The verdict was read around noon in the Barberton Municipal Court. No sentencing will take place as of yet since Young has two outstanding charges related to being arrested twice after the first incident. Young will soon face trial for one count of violation of protection order and another of menacing by stalking.

Young’s daughter testified that she watched her dad hit her mom. Young testified and called his daughter a liar, a point that O’Farrell said he could not get over.

“The moment when you indicated that you believed your daughter, [redacted] was a liar, that caused me and has continued to cause me emotional upset,” the judge said. “Quite frankly, to see a father indicate that his daughter was a liar – It brings a whole lot of emotion.”

On the charge of assault, he said that Young did not seem like the “aggressor” in the surveillance video taken during that night. He said that doesn’t mean that Michael was, but just that Young wasn’t.

While walking out of court, Young appeared to giggle when a WEWS photographer tried to talk to him.

He had been charged with domestic violence, assault, violating a protection order and menacing by stalking. The charges led to his resignation from the Statehouse.

The first two charges stemmed from a disturbance in July, the third at the end of August and the fourth in September.

What led to the charges?

Young was arrested by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in early July for allegedly assaulting both his wife Tina, and brother Michael. According to a witness statement, he also assaulted his wife’s friend.

One of his wife’s friends allegedly caught Young having an affair with a colleague and confronted both him and the supposed mistress, the friend’s witness statement said. This friend was also concerned because Young abused Tina “a lot,” she wrote.

Back in 2020, police reports show deputies were called on Young for a physical domestic disturbance. No charges were filed then.

Both Tina and Michael have restraining orders against Young — which means no contact. Young, however, left three voicemails for his wife in August, according to the sheriff’s office. He also blocked her mail.

The Republican was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor of “recklessly” violating the protection order, according to court records.

In September, Young was again arrested for menacing by stalking, according to court records.

Following Young’s second arrest, he resigned after more than 30 Republican colleagues asked him to step down.

This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.

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