Troy Neff has obtained Perrysburg attorney, Drew Griffith, after being told he could possibly be charged with misdemeanor assault for his role in a Dec. 10 road rage incident.

Neff said Dec. 19 that he was told for the first time on Dec. 18 that he may also be charged, so wasn’t sure if he should testify at the pre-trial. But after thinking about it for 10 minutes in the hallway of the courtroom, announced he would testify. Neff said he was then informed that Jeffrey Hardeman had already waived his right to a pre-trial so he didn’t need to testify.

“I am perfectly willing to testify,” Neff said.

Hardeman, the man charged with stabbing the former radio talk show host was released on his own recognizance from the Wood County justice center after he waived his right to a preliminary hearing in the Perrysburg Municipal Court on Dec. 18.

Hardeman has no previous criminal record, but if he returns to the area, he may not stay in a Perrysburg hotel, said Assistant Prosecutor, William Connelly Jr.

Hardeman will return home to Tennessee while Wood County prosecutors take another look at the facts of the case to determine if Hardeman will have a trial before the grand jury, said Scott Ciolek, Hardeman’s attorney.

His client decided to waive the hearing because Neff decided not to testify, Ciolek said. Hardeman was charged with felonious assault and tampering with evidence.

But Neff insists he was willing to testify Dec. 18. In fact, he has already been interviewed by detectives and considers that a form of testifying.

“My statement is what it is - very consistent,” Neff said Dec. 19. “It is what happened.”

Hardeman stabbed Neff in self defense, after Neff tackled him and was punching him during a road rage incident Dec. 10, Ciolek said. Hardeman is a quality control engineer in the glass industry and had the utility knife with him because he had been working in Michigan that day, Ciolek said.

As for the tampering with evidence charge, Hardeman had used the knife to cut off a strip of his T-shirt to dress a wound that he had received when his knife slipped in his hand during the altercation, Ciolek said. During the process, some of the blood was wiped off Hardeman’s knife.

Hardeman also defecated in his pants because he was tackled so hard and so he threw the shorts and pants away that he had been wearing, which added to the tampering with evidence charge, Ciolek said.

Hardeman was in the Wood County justice center since the incident and has been “miserable,” Ciolek said. Hardeman will return to his family and try to recover, he said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Courts.
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