YOUNGSTOWN — The attorney for Damian J. Cessna, 28, of Boardman, who was sentenced to four to six years in prison in June for a confrontation with a Boardman police officer July 13, 2021, has asked for a hearing to argue why Cessna should be granted early release from prison.

Cessna, who got credit for nearly a year locked up in the Mahoning County jail awaiting trial, now qualifies for judicial release, which is a type of early release approved by the sentencing judge, Cessna’s attorney stated in a Feb. 9 filing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Maureen Sweeney has not yet scheduled a hearing on the matter. Sweeney scheduled a judicial release hearing for Cessna last October. But prosecutors later said Cessna did not yet qualify for it, and Sweeney denied the early release. Prosecutors said Cessna needed to spend at least 180 days in prison before he would be eligible.

He was delivered to prison July 29, 2025, according to prosecutors.

Cessna was convicted at trial of felonious assault last May in the early July 13, 2021, incident on South Avenue in Boardman in which Cessna charged at a Boardman police officer with a knife during a traffic stop and was shot by the officer.

It was the second time Cessna was tried on the charge. In September of 2024, a different jury was deadlocked on felonious assault but found Cessna guilty of obstructing official business and misdemeanor aggravated menacing.

Trial testimony and statements of prosecutors indicated that the officer made a traffic stop on Cessna because the officer was concerned for Cessna’s safety. Cessna was riding a bicycle late at night with no lights on it, on the wrong side of the road. Cessna put down a baseball bat he had in his hand when the officer asked him to, but Cessna refused when the officer asked Cessna to take a knife from a sheath on Cessna’s belt and toss it away.

After Cessna used profanities and would not toss away his sheathed knife, the officer called for backup, drew his weapon and told Cessna to get on the ground. Then Cessna “pulled the knife out, let out some guttural groan and started going at officer (Evan) Beil,” Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said during Cessna’s trial last May.

The officer fired a number of times, stopping when Cessna fell to the ground. Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro discussed Cessna’s mental health issues extensively during Cessna’s sentencing hearing last June, urging Sweeney to give Cessna “some type of intensive supervision of Mr. Cessna to make sure he is complying with medication and getting the mental health treatment he needs” at the end of his period of incarceration.

Cessna’s attorney, Mark Lavelle, stated in his Feb. 9 filing that Cessna “has demonstrated genuine rehabilitation by maintaining good conduct throughout his incarceration” and “has a strong support system in place, including family and friends.” He would live in Boardman, the filing states.