Staff Reports
CIRCLEVILLE – An Ashville man was found not guilty of three counts of felonious assault in a two-day trial held before Judge P. Randall Knece in Pickaway County Common Pleas Court.
Joseph R. Tuttle, of Walnut Road, Ashville, was charged with firing a weapon at three Kirby vacuum cleaner salespeople at his home on Sept. 10, 2014.
According to evidence presented at trial, Julia Kramer and Brandi Gall stopped at Tuttle’s home and approached him about buying a Kirby vacuum while a third person, David Riggs, remained in the van outside.
Tuttle said he was not interested and ordered Kramer and Gall to leave his property immediately, and shots were fired as the van finally left the area.
Kramer and Gall, represented by Judy Wolford, Pickaway County Prosecutor, on behalf of the State of Ohio, testified that Tuttle shot twice at the van as they drove away.
Tuttle, represented by Mark Collins of Columbus, admitted in court that he did fire his Hi-Point model C9 9mm semi-automatic pistol twice, but he claimed he never pointed it at the van.
Tuttle testified he asked the two salespeople to leave the property six or seven times before he fired the pistol, but he fired the gun into the ground as the van was leaving. While he admitted it was a “stupid” thing to do, he said he did it to emphasize the point that the salespeople were not to come back.
The defense and the prosecution each called four witnesses to testify at the trial.
A jury of nine men and three women deliberated about 25 minutes before finding Tuttle not guilty of the felonious assault charges.
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
