Prosecutors drop felony assault charge against protester accused of damaging TownHall employeeʼs hearing with bullhorn—Cleveland.com
Yahner’s defense attorney, Peter Pattakos, filed an expert report in July from a Ohio State University doctor and professor who is an expert in hearing loss. The expert found no evidence of hearing damage in Boyd’s medical records.
O’Malley’s office then got its own expert who examined Boyd and also found that she suffered no long-term hearing damage, prosecutors said.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Chad Cleveland filed a motion to dismiss the charge on Oct. 28 citing “information gathered during the pendency of this matter.”
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Pattakos pointed to the George family’s status in Northeast Ohio as influential political donors in Cleveland and called the felony prosecution of protesters chilling.
“Needless to say we are glad that the charges against Sydney have been dismissed but it is beyond outrageous that she and Josiah were ever indicted in the first place,” Pattakos said [in a press release issued by his office].