YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The man accused of assaulting a Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office deputy who works in the jail smirked through his entire arraignment Tuesday.
Rondell Harris, 33, of Cleveland, pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Dennis Sarisky in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of felonious assault.
Sarisky set a July 25 trial date before Judge Anthony D’Apolito. He will be held without bond until Judge D’Apolito can rule on a prosecution motion asking that Harris be denied bond.
Harris is accused of raping the deputy May 5. A report said corrections officers arrived at a medical unit at the jail and discovered the female deputy had been attacked. Harris had been transferred to the Trumbull County jail after the attack but today, he told his attorney Mark Lavelle that he had been moved to the Ohio State Penitentiary on Hubbard-Coitsville Road.
“They kicked me out of Trumbull,” Harris told Lavelle.
Harris was being held on a vandalism charge when the attack took place.
A crowd of about 20 people, including the victim, watched the short proceeding.
Lavelle told Magistrate Sarisky he expects to be replaced on the case by a public defender from the state to avoid a potential conflict of interest, but he was appointed to represent Harris on the vandalism charge and will continue to do so until new counsel is appointed.