Woman’s story questioned
39-year-old accused of attacking live-in girlfriend
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Dustin L. James, 39, of Boardman, went on trial Tuesday on charges of felonious assault, domestic violence and having weapons while not allowed in a June 19, 2022, incident involving his girlfriend at their home on Shields Road in Boardman.
The trial, in front of Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, will wrap up this morning after jury selection and testimony Tuesday. James could get about 15 years in prison if convicted.
During opening statements to the jury, Daniel Yozwiak, assistant prosecutor, said the evidence would show that James physically attacked his live-in girlfriend "using brute violence to physically injure her, knock her unconscious, cause serious injuries to her face and bruising."
Yozwiak said the woman told police that James pressured her to lie for him to avoid getting into trouble. A medical professional is on the witness list to testify, as well as law enforcement personnel.
He said the prosecution needed to show that James knowingly caused serious physical harm to the woman to prove felonious assault.
Mark Lavelle, James' attorney, told the jury James and his girlfriend "were raging heroin addicts for a good portion of that relationship. As a result of that disorder, they lived a tumultuous life."
He said the alleged victim is going to say that James "got up, was angry and turned over a table. After that, she's not quite sure what occurred. She will fill in some blanks in the course of her testimony. She was injured. She's not quite sure how.
"She thinks that Dustin tried to hit her with an object she cannot identify. Somebody took her to the hospital. In fact, it was he, along with another friend. While she was at the hospital, she did not indicate to medical personnel that he had in fact caused these injuries until a significant amount of time passed," he said.
The person from the hospital will testify only to what the alleged victim told her, Lavelle said. "There was no investigation made. There was no interview with the neighbors," he said. "There was no information garnered by law enforcement but for the report that (the alleged victim) made sometime after the event."
Lavelle said jurors will have to decide whether the alleged victim was intoxicated at the time of the incident and why she did not reveal the alleged attack to the people at the hospital.