GREENVILLE—A New Madison woman was found guilty of felonious assault on Tuesday evening in Darke County Common Pleas Court. Judge Stephen A. Wolaver, of Greene County, presided, with state prosecutors Drew Wood and Christopher Kinsler, and Walker’s attorney Dennis Liebermann present.
The use of an outside judge and prosecutors was decided after Walker claimed Darke County officials had a negative bias against her.
Jessica R. Walker, 46, was found guilty of count two, felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and count four, failure to stop, a fifth-degree felony. She faces between two and nine years incarceration, and a fine of up to $16,500.
She was found not guilty of count one of felonious assault, a second-degree felony and count three of vehicular assault, a fourth-degree felony.
After a dispute regarding an RV parked in the Butler Township parking lot on Dec. 21, 2021, she was found guilty of knowingly hitting Robert Yant, 57, with her mini cooper, causing long-term physical harm.
Wood told the jury in his closing statement that why Walker hit Robert with her car doesn’t really matter.
“Of course, it’s obvious, we all know why she did it,” he said. “You can hear it in her voice on her phone call to the dispatcher. The dispatcher had nothing to do with this and she was fired up when she was talking to that dispatcher. She was angry, she was upset. You don’t have to know why she got so angry and upset about this RV, to know that she was. We all know that when someone gets angry, when someone gets upset, they lash out and try to hurt other people.”
A sentencing date has not been set.
