EL man pleads guilty to assault, abduction
By DAVID M. GRIMES
POSTED: May 17, 2008
LISBON — A plea agreement has been reached in the kidnapping/rape case against an East Liverpool man accused of taking his ex-girlfriend and holding her hostage last fall.
James McKahan Jr., 29, of 11361 Sprucevale Road, pled guilty to assault and abduction charges Friday at the Columbiana County Common Pleas Court. A jury trial was set for Monday before the plea was made in front of Judge Dan Tobin yesterday.
The abduction charge was the harsher of the two counts with a penalty from one to five years with a $10,000 fine. The assault charge carries a penalty of six months and a $1,000 fine. The maximum sentence McKahan can receive is five and a half years and and $11,000 fine.
McKahan and his attorney, Carl Joseph King, accepted the new charge of assault as part of the plea deal.
The plea agreement also came with three years parole or up to five years community control after McKahan serves his time.
The sentencing court date is set for Aug. 22.
McKahan was charged last year for two counts of rape and kidnapping after he was placed in custody for allegedly kidnapping a former girlfriend, raping her and holding her hostage in his East Liverpool home.
dgrimes@reviewonline.com
