After three days of trials, a jury has reached a verdict for an Athens man charged of felonious assault for allegedly spreading an STD to his ex-girlfriend, knowing that he had contracted the disease.
Not guilty.
The jury trail kicked off Tuesday in the case of Dennis Broadnax, who watched his ex testify in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas as she told the jury she had no idea Broadnax had HIV until she found his medications. That happened after the two had already broken up.
Broadnax, 58, has been incarcerated in the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail on a $5,000 bond, though it was originally set at $4,000, and his trial had been continued several times, according to court documents.
Broadnax was indicted for felonious assault in early May. On July 2, 2012, he was arraigned in Judge L. Alan Goldsberry’s courtroom and entered a not guilty plea.
He later retreated to a Veteran’s Affairs hospital in Chillicothe to be screened for STDs, according to court documents.
Because felonious assault is a second-degree felony, this could have meant a prison sentence of up to eight years if Broadnax had been convicted, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
kf398711@ohiou.edu
@k_fish93
