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LISBON -- Since 2014, Jacob S. Lowther has been charged with assaulting an EMT and emergency room nurse trying to help him, the police officer who restrained him, and three guards at the Columbiana County jail. He has also been charged with robbing a person at knife point and choking someone else during another robbery the same day.
On top of all that Lowther was accused of threatening to grab and spit on one of his public defenders.
For his crimes, Lowther was sentenced to nine years in state prison during a hearing this week in county common pleas court. He received mandatory credit for 29 months already spent in jail while awaiting the outcome of the 12 charges against him, reducing his sentence to 6.5 years.
Lowther, 23, of East Liverpool, was scheduled to go on trial this week but that was canceled after he entered into a plea deal reached with the county prosecutor's office. He ended up pleading guilty to 10 of the 12 charges against him, with several of the more serious charges reduced, while two other charges were dismissed.
Lowther, who requested to be sentenced immediately, said he did not feel he was guilty of all of the charges against him.
"I was young and stupid, and, yes, I was on drugs, but that is not an excuse," Lowther told Judge C. Ashley Pike.
The following is a breakdown of the charges against him:
--October 2014: An intoxicated Lowther was brought by ambulance to the emergency room at East Liverpool City Hospital, where he repeatedly kneed EMT Jason Mitchell in the stomach. He then punched RN Steven Heiss in the face several times and kicked him in the back of the head. Police officer Chris Green was called to the hospital to restrain Lowther, who punched Green in the face before sticking his hand in Green's mouth and clawing, injuring his mouth.
Lowther pleaded guilty as charged to three assault charges resulting from this incident.
--January 2015: Armed with a knife and wearing a mask, Lowther forced his way into the East Liverpool home of Joseph Virden and Krystal Householder to rob them. Later the same day he and an accomplice broke into the apartment of Christian Byers and choked him before stealing his DVDs and Xbox game system.
He ended up pleading guilty to two counts of burglary and two counts of robbery, while charges of abduction and obstructing police business were dropped.
--October and November 2016: While incarcerated at the county jail, Lowther took his meal tray and ran toward the guard before flinging it at the guard, striking him in the wrist and hand. Several weeks later, in November, another guard was directing Lowther back to his cell when Lowther knocked the guard over and began punching him in the face.
Lowther was charged with two counts of assault and pleaded guilty as charged to both.
--February 2017: While incarcerated at the jail, Lowther approached another guard from behind and grabbed his radio before punching him in the head. The guard was knocked into the cell, where Lowther continued to punch the guard in the face and head, resulting in multiple facial fractures and cuts.
Lowther pleaded guilty as charged to a single assault charge. Defense attorney James Hartford suggested this incident was the result of some friction between Lowther and the guard over the delivery of tobacco products, "but that certainly doesn't excuse the assault."
Hartford said the guard was in the habit of delivering tobacco products to his client and other inmates and that it was his understanding the guard has since been fired.
Hartford was the fifth attorney assigned to represent Lowther, who expressed displeasure with the other four. Lowther's most recent public defender, Coleen Hall Dailey, wrote Judge Pike in February asking to withdraw from the case after he threatened to "lay hands" on her if she did to withdraw as his attorney. Lowther also said he would spit on Dailey if necessary so he would get charged with assault, forcing the court to remove her as his attorney.
Lowther said he was "very satisfied" with Hartford's services, adding, "He did everything I asked and more." As for the other public defenders, "they never tried to help me, they didn't want to hear what I had to say" and would never meet with him at the jail, Lowther said.
Pike asked Lowther what he thought of the jail, and Lowther noted he was there for nearly three years. "I've had enough of Columbiana County and they've had enough of me," he said, adding the facility is operating better than when he was first incarcerated, "but it's not running to convenience me."
tgiambroni@mojonews.com