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Mark Sullivan gestures during questioning during the court hearing against him on Friday, February 24.

County commissioner found not guilty of domestic violence

A tight, reassuring embrace between a 13-year-old and his worried grandmother highlighted the fear and uncertainty exuding from the front row of the Athens County Municipal Courtroom Friday.

“You OK? It’s going to be OK,” Donna Sullivan whispered into Tucker Sullivan’s ear.

Two hours later, Donna and Tucker released a sigh of relief when Athens County Commissioner Mark Sullivan, who is facing four challengers in March’s Democratic primary, was found not guilty of domestic violence, a first-degree misdemeanor.

“I’m not convinced that beyond a reasonable doubt this collision was knowingly done,” Municipal Court Judge William Grim said.

A breathless “yes” erupted from the four people sitting behind Mark’s defendant’s chair as Donna, Mark’s mother, stared up at the ceiling glassy-eyed and Tucker, Mark’s son, beamed.

But two conflicting versions of the Jan. 10 incident made Grim’s decision anything but easy.

The clashing factions of witnesses all agreed on one thing — the collision of Mark’s head and the lip of his niece, Samantha Sullivan, injured both parties.

Sam and her girlfriend, Brooke Harmon, testified that the argument was sparked by a “rude” note left for Sam by the embattled county commissioner about parking at Donna’s Nelsonville home.

Sam and Harmon stated that the conversation began in the kitchen when Sam confronted Mark about the note.

“I waited until he was in the kitchen alone so the conversation wasn’t in front of anyone,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be a big dispute with the whole family.”

But the conversation quickly became heated and moved into the adjoining hallway. Sam said Mark raised his voice, waved his finger and became red in the face as the dialogue progressed.

The fight culminated, Sam said, when Mark stood between his two children, Tucker and Nellie, in the living room. Sam stood at the top of the living room stairs, about 12 feet away.

“He … rushed up to me and head-butted me in the face,” Sam said. “I believe he was trying to strike me.”

Although Mark’s attorney, Thomas McGuire, questioned her ability to see the confrontation, Harmon said she could see clearly through the front door into the living room and corroborated Sam’s version of the altercation.

“He went up on the step, flung his head back and hit her. … (She) grabbed her face and put her head down,” Harmon said. “He told her, if she parked behind him one more time, she wouldn’t have a vehicle anymore.”

But Tucker and his father Mark painted a different picture of the encounter.

Tucker said the conflict actually began in the living room, where Sam accosted his father about parking, but he couldn’t remember exactly what was said.

His father was calm as the argument continued, he said, but Sam’s voice had an edge.

Contrary to the couple’s story, Tucker said his father had to go to a meeting and walked up the stairs “at a standard pace” to get his shoes when Sam stepped in front of him and the two collided.

“She made it look like she was in pain, but I don’t think she was. She had no marks on her,” Tucker said.

Mark corroborated his son’s story, stating that the conversation began in a civil manner and then became “more heated.”

Mark said he was trying to leave for the Burr Oak Regional Water District Meeting — of which he is a board member — but Sam stepped in his way.

“The upper part of my head hit her mouth,” said Mark, who sustained a cut to his forehead. “Her tooth hit me.”

The cut was on top of his head, which he and his lawyer McGuire said was a sign that he simply ran into her.

“She stepped in front of me. … She was higher than I was,” Mark said. “I think the height of the staircase would show that.”

Nelsonville police arrested the county commissioner after taking statements from Harmon and Sam, but Donna and another witness, Ryan Rutherford, refused to talk.  Neither Tucker nor Nellie was interviewed.

Because Commissioner Sullivan was found not guilty, the violation of his probation — related to a persistent disorderly conduct charge that stemmed from an altercation with his wife last March — was also dismissed.

as218907@ohiou.edu

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