A stabbing in Lima overnight landed a man in the hospital and another in jail. The Lima Police Department is reporting they responded to a stabbing call just after midnight at 936 Dingledine Avenue. A male was found with non-life-threatening stab wounds and taken to the hospital. Police state that an argument between roommates escalated and 68-year-old Walton Upshaw Jr. stabbed the male victim.

The Lima Police Department is investigating a shooting at a local park. Around noon on Friday, police responded to a report of a shooting in the parking lot at Cole Street and North Shore Drive in Faurot Park. According to the Lima Police Department, a group of family and friends had gathered at the park, and a verbal argument led to an individual pulling out a gun and shooting one person. 

The trial begins for an Allen County man charged with a 2020 shooting that happened at his home.  Michael Sheets is facing a felonious assault charge.  During opening statements, prosecutors say the day before Easter in  2020, sheets, his daughter and her boyfriend Bradley Hutton were in the garage when an argument broke out after a day of drinking, that ended up with Hutton getting shot in the leg.  Hutton took the stand and says that Sheets got the gun during the verbal argument. 

“A small argument still continued, I took my eyes off Mike and looked over toward Bailey.  When I turned and looked away and that’s when my ears started ringing,” says Hutton.  “I seen his arm like this and I followed his arm and I seen the gun.  I looked down, at first, I couldn’t see blood or a hole in the jeans or anything.  Then I stepped, I thought his shot missed me, so my goal was to get the gun away from him.” 

“All it is, is a verbal argument until the defendant decided to introduce a gun to them, at that moment is when the scenario changed,” says Joe Everhart, Allen County Assistant Prosecutor. 

But Sheets attorney says that his client was defending himself from Hutton, who he asked to leave multiple times before he fired the shot. 

“He is going to tell you how he feared for his life, and he didn’t want to hurt Bradley.  But he wanted this intruder out of his house, and he shot him in the leg.  After shooting him, Bradley still did not leave, it was probably 5, 10 minutes later before Bradley decide to leave the house,” says Thomas Lucente Defense attorney.

Sheets is expected to take the stand on Wednesday when his trial resumes. 

All four of the judges in the local appellate court are graduates of the University’s College of Law. The 3rd District Court usually hears oral arguments once a year at Ohio Northern. The two cases heard Tuesday involved a civil dispute about a digital sign out of Marion County, and a criminal case brought to the court by the state over evidence that was suppressed under the fourth amendment from Union County.