GREENVILLE — Darke County Common Pleas Court heard cases involving assault, domestic violence and burglary Monday afternoon. Judge Jonathan P. Hein presided.
Stoney Dynes, 55, of Greenville, was expected to enter a guilty plea to charges of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and domestic violence, a third-degree felony. Dynes instead chose to withdraw the plea and request that a trial date be set, however.
“I believe Mr. Dynes should think carefully about what he wants to do here,” Darke County Assistant Prosecutor Jesse Green told the court. “Just because the alleged victim, his daughter, has left the state doesn’t mean she won’t come back in order to testify.”
Dynes pleaded guilty to similar charges in February 2018 and was sentenced to spend 30 days in the Darke County Jail, followed by 30 days on electronically monitored house arrest, the following April. Dynes was under supervision by the Darke County Office of Adult Probation when he was arrested on the new charges. His previous record includes citations for trafficking, criminal trespass, telephone harassment and use of a weapon while intoxicated.
Judge Hein struck the scheduled plea from the record and ordered Dynes released on his own recognizance. His trial date was set for March 4.
Steven Evans, 23, also of Greenville, admitted to violating the terms of his probation on charges of burglary, theft and having weapons while under disability, counts carrying combined penalties of up to 24 months incarceration. Evans’ parole officer alleged he had failed to complete required substance abuse treatment, having been dismissed from the MonDay program in Dayton due to assault.
“We believe the defendant is no longer amenable to community control,” prosecutor Deborah Quigley told the court. “He was given a chance in 2017, then got in trouble again for having a weapon. He failed to complete the best rehabilitation program we have. There’s nothing more probation can do with Mr. Evans.”
Defense attorney Randall Braeden took a different view, saying Evans had earned his GED and completed 50 hours of community service while at MonDay.
“That’s before he got baited into this assault,” Braeden said. “The gun was for protection and was never used, and the victim in the burglary case was a drug dealer in Gettysburg, someone well-known to this court.”
Evans told Judge Hein he regretted the actions that had brought him to this point and that he would change things if he could.
“That’s insightful, because you always could change things, and you always can,” Hein told the defendant. “You’re getting a lot of opportunities to make the right choice, but you have a high percentage of making the wrong one.”
Hein sentenced Evans to complete the remainder of his 24-month sentence, with credit for approximately eight months already served.
Adam Payne, 35, pleaded guilty to charges of trespassing in a habitation. The charge was reduced from one of burglary, a third-degree felony, in accordance with a plea agreement between Payne and the Prosecutor’s Office.
“I didn’t hear ‘life’ anywhere in there, so I figured it sounds like a pretty good deal,” Payne said.
Hein accepted Payne’s guilty plea and ordered him released on his own recognizance. His next court appearance is a sentencing hearing to be held April 15.
