Jury team can't agree on assault in police clashes in Boardman | News, Sports, Jobs

Staff photo / Ed Runyan. Boardman police officer Evan Beil, during testimony in Cessna's trial, demonstrates how Damian Cessna held a knife as he charged at Beil in 2021. A jury could not agree on an assault charge against Cessna on Friday.

YOUNGSTOWN – In the trial of Damian Cessna in Mahoning County court on Friday, the jury could not agree on the issue of aggravated assault, but found Cessna guilty of obstruction of office and aggravated menacing.

Cessna could face a prison sentence of about a year for obstruction of office, a minor crime.

Mahoning County District Attorney Gina DeGenova said no decision has been made on whether to retry Cessna on the aggravated assault charge. If he had been convicted of aggravated assault, Cessna could have faced about eight years in prison.

Cessna, 27, then of Boardman, was charged with the felonies after he and Boardman police Officer Evan Beil had an altercation on South Avenue near Mathews Road on July 13, 2021. Beil said Cessna refused to put down a knife he was carrying and charged at the officer, who fired 11 shots at Cessna, hitting him multiple times.

After an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, then-Mahoning County Attorney Paul Gains cleared Biel of any wrongdoing in connection with the shooting.

Beil testified that the incident began when he saw Cessna riding a bicycle in the wrong lane at 1 a.m., without lights and carrying a baseball bat.

Beil testified in court that he stopped a Cessna by pulling up behind her but staying next to her patrol car about 15 feet away from her. He said Cessna asked Beil in an obscene manner why he was being stopped. Beil told Cessna to put down the baseball bat and Cessna did so.

Beil, who was not equipped with a body camera nor did he have a dashboard camera in his patrol car, said he asked Cessna to remove the knife from the sheath on his belt and throw it away.

“He says no. I'm not going to disarm myself. I don't feel safe talking to you,” Beil said. He told Cessna to throw the knife away or Cessna would be arrested, Beil testified. “And then I pull out my gun and order him to get on the ground,” Beil said. “At that moment, he pulls the knife out of the sheath. He grunts and attacks me.”

Beil said Cessna held the knife at about head height with his elbow in the air as he approached Beil. Cessna said he fired until Cessna fell forward to the ground.

Cross-examination by Mark Lavelle, Cessna's attorney, seemed to indicate that Cessna had moved about three feet from his bike at the time she crashed to the ground, while Beil's testimony suggested that Cessna had moved about ten feet from her bike before she crashed and that Beil was about five feet from Cessna when they drove off.