New trial ordered for man who hit Grandview Heights police sergeant with spiked bat
A state appeals court has ordered that a man who had been sent to prison for injuring a Grandview Heights police sergeant with a spiked bat should get a new trial.
The decision from the Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals in Franklin County came down Tuesday afternoon in the case of 60-year-old Grant Metters.
On Sept. 25, 2019, Grandview Heights police had received a call from Metters' neighbor about a dispute over the neighbor's dog, which had gone to the bathroom in Metters' yard on the 1300 block of Glenn Avenue. Metters, who was intoxicated and upset, did not cooperate with police, who tried to calm him down, according to testimony at his 2021 trial.
Responding officers learned Metters had an outstanding warrant for a traffic case in Franklin County Municipal Court. At the time, Grandview Heights police policy was to arrest anyone with a warrant, regardless of what the warrant was for.
According to court records, Metters refused to come out of his house, kicking a glass panel out of the front door at the officers, who were on the front porch. An officer used chemical spray to try and get Metters to come out.
However, Metters swung at the officers on the front porch with a baseball bat that had rusted nails and screws in it. The bat struck a police sergeant's hand, breaking the sergeant's middle finger and causing a puncture wound through Kevlar gloves and the entirety of another finger. The sergeant had to undergo multiple surgeries and was off of work for 10 months, according to court records.
A Franklin County Common Pleas Court jury found Metters guilty of felonious assault on a police officer and he received a sentence of at least five years and no more than seven and a half years in prison.
On appeal, the 10th District Appeals Court court determined that former county Common Pleas Court Judge Colleen O'Donnell should have told the jury during instructions about the charge of reckless assault, commonly called a lesser-included offense. Metters' attorney had asked for the jury instruction to be given during the trial, but O'Donnell had denied the motion, the appeals court decision said.
The appeals court ordered Metters' case sent back to county Common Pleas Court for a new trial to be held.
Metters is currently serving his prison sentence in the Noble Correctional Institution. His first eligibility for parole would have been in 2026.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Man who hit Grandview Heights sergeant with spiked bat gets new trial
