Deputies use Taser to subdue man charged with robbing church
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 3:24 AM By Bruce Cadwallader
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A man whom deputies shocked with a stun gun after he kicked his defense attorney was absent from the courtroom yesterday when his aggravated-robbery trial began.
Judge Julie M. Lynch told jurors in Franklin County Common Pleas Court that Wendell Hollingsworth, 43, had waived his presence at the trial. She had given him the right to appear in shackles and he refused, so he spent the day in a nearby holding cell.
The first two witnesses, who previously identified Hollingsworth to Columbus police as the man who robbed them, were escorted by deputies into the cellblock. Back on the witness stand, they told jurors that Hollingsworth was the man who committed the crimes.
A jury of eight women and four men was selected late yesterday.
What jurors did not know was that deputies had to administer a Taser shock to subdue Hollingsworth when he began kicking attorney J. Scott Weisman.
Three deputies forced Hollingsworth to the ground from his wheelchair about 9:15 a.m. Deputy Tony Cook fired the stun gun, which propels barbed wires into the skin and delivers an electrical shock. One barb struck the shoe of a fellow deputy.
Hollingsworth, of 5004 Drivemere Rd., Hilliard, was in a wheelchair after saying he had fallen and hurt his neck on Monday, when his trial was supposed to start.
Weisman vowed to continue as his court-appointed attorney even though Hollingsworth in the past week has made religious slurs against him, asked that he be fired and spit in his face.
Hollingsworth also asked Lynch to excuse herself from his trial because she is Roman Catholic. He is accused of robbing parishioners at Christ the King Catholic Church.
Assistant Prosecutors Christopher Brown and Doug Stead said Hollingsworth is responsible for five armed robberies in a five-day period in January, resulting in his arrest inside the church on Jan. 28.
He is also on trial for a carjacking and the armed robberies of a gas station, the Franklin County Animal Shelter on Alum Creek Drive and a nutrition center. Prosecutors said they have offered Hollingsworth a plea to some of the 13 felony charges, but he has refused. If convicted of all charges, he faces more than 100 years in prison.
Weisman told jurors the state cannot prove all the charges against Hollingsworth. He also cautioned them to follow their oaths.
"If it's not proven, it's not guilty," Weisman told them. "Wendell is not here, so it's obvious you won't be hearing from him."
On Monday, Celeste Smith, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and was sentenced to seven years in prison for her role in the Christ the King robbery. She is not expected to testify in Hollingsworth's trial.
Fifteen years ago, in a different Franklin County courtroom, Hollingsworth punched his court-appointed attorney in the face when he tried to withdraw a guilty plea to several robbery counts. He was later paroled from a prison sentence of 18 to 53 years over the objections of the sentencing judge, David E. Cain.
OMG, when I saw this on the news this morning, I couldn't stop laughing. Dude was trying to get out of his wheelchair to get to that attorney. Then they had homey on the ground and had to tie him down to his wheelchair. Then they put a muzzle on his face. I was too through. Talk about funny!
