WARREN — Ryan M. Rafferty-Powell, 35, of Southern Boulevard NW, was indicted on charges of felonious assault and possession of a deadly weapon while under detention that could result in about 10 years in prison if convicted.

On Wednesday, he had a pretrial hearing before Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Cynthia Rice, but it did not stand out much among the dozens of people who appeared before Rice for pretrials and other hearings.

That is until his lawyer, Joshua Weemhoff, mentioned to Rice that Rafferty-Powell has been dealing with an especially challenging skin disease and suggested that Rice take a look at Rafferty-Powell’s left leg.

“I am deeply concerned,” Rafferty-Powell said.

“What is it,” Rice asked as Weemhoff told Rafferty-Powell to quickly put his foot down.

Weemhoff admitted that he does not know what is wrong with Rafferty-Powell’s skin, but he spoke with medical staff at the Trumbull County jail, and they gave Rafferty-Powell steroids for the condition.

But he wanted Rice to know. “I think maybe he should be sent to the hospital,” Weemhoff said.

“It’s very painful,” Rafferty-Powell said, giving the name of the condition to her and added that he doesn’t know if that means he has gangrene.

Weemhoff asked Rice if she would provide a letter so that Rafferty-Powell can be evaluated at a hospital.

Rice appeared to be ready to extend some sort of remedy to have the defendant’s leg checked out.

Then Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Gabe Wildman interjected his thoughts, saying, “I’m all for getting inmates proper medical treatment when it’s appropriate. I trust the jail to do that.”

Wildman added, however, “Intervention is appropriate as well. But just to remind the court while we are here, he was seen for medical treatment and he attempted to murder a nurse. He feloniously assaulted her, grabbed a pair of scissors, I believe, and was slashing at her. So the court is aware …” Wildman said, as Weemhoff interjected, asking for he and Wildman to approach the bench or even enter the judge’s chambers to discuss the matter privately, which they did.

When Weemhoff, Wildman and Rice returned, Rice said she would order that the jail have someone from outside of the jail look at Rafferty-Powell’s leg.

Earlier in the hearing, Weemhoff, Wildman and Rice talked about a competency evaluation that was carried out on Rafferty-Powell and an evaluation of whether he was sane at the time of the offense. The defense and prosecution agreed that Rafferty-Powell is competent to stand trial.

JAIL REPORT

The newspaper later obtained a copy of a report generated at the Trumbull County jail regarding an incident Sept. 8 in the jail in which a jail corrections officer was escorting Rafferty-Powell to the medical area of the jail because of a report of chest pains.

An EKG was performed on Rafferty-Powell. Then a medical assistant decided to change Rafferty-Powell’s bandages, which were due to be changed earlier that day, but Rafferty-Powell had refused to allow it.

Rafferty-Powell was sitting on a medical bench as the medical assistant removed the old bandages and put on new ones.

Rafferty-Powell then asked for a drink of water, and the medical assistant asked the corrections officer to get the water. “As soon as I turned, the medical assistant started yelling at inmate Rafferty, stating ‘Don’t grab the scissors. I know it hurts, but don’t ever grab at me again,'” the report states.

The corrections officer stood closer to Rafferty-Powell, who said it was hurting him. But the medical assistant said she was only cutting the areas to make it hurt less.

The corrections officer saw Rafferty-Powell take the scissors from her hand and jump down from the bench. He then ran toward the medical assistant … with the scissors over his head,” the report states.

“I ran towards him and pushed him into the other bench in front of him,” the corrections officer stated, but he lost his grip on Rafferty-Powell, who got to his feet and ran toward the medical assistant again. “pushing her up against a wall and grabbing her by the shirt,” the report states.

The corrections officer got a grip of Rafferty-Powell around the waist and took him to the floor. The corrections officer saw that Rafferty-Powell had the scissors in his hand, so the corrections officer grabbed the scissors and threw them into another room. Other corrections officers arrived, and the inmate was taken back to his cell, the report states.

A witness to the end of the incident saw the medical assistant breathing heavily while the corrections officer was handcuffing Rafferty-Powell, that part of the report states. Another corrections officer who saw the end of the incident said the medical assistant was “looking terrified.” The medical assistant was checked and found to have a “few red marks but no blood.”