BY DAVID ECK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- A man on trial for allegedly assaulting two corrections officers at Lebanon Correctional Institution hit his attorney Thursday morning during open court.
Attorneys were seating jurors for Gregory Curry's trial about 10:30 a.m. when Mr. Curry punched his attorney, Donald Oda, in the eye. Mr. Curry, 33, formerly an inmate at Lebanon Correctional, is charged with felonious assault, two counts of assault on a corrections officer and one court of aggravated robbery from last year.
After the punch, Judge P. Daniel Fedders of Warren County Common Pleas Court cleared the room and talked to the shaken jurors, Mr. Oda said.
"I went to the hospital for examination," Mr. Oda said. "I just had a small laceration under my eye and a headache. I didn't see it coming."
Mr. Oda, a private lawyer who was appointed to represent Mr. Curry said his client had been "dissatisfied with my representation and he had voiced that to the judge."
After the Lebanon Correctional incidents, Mr. Curry was moved to Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville to serve 20 years to life for murdering an inmate during the April 1993 uprising there and 15-25 years for attempted aggravated murder during the revolt.
Mr. Oda said he does not plan to file a complaint with the county prosecutor. "That doesn't stop the prosecutor's office from doing it if they want to."
A new lawyer is likely for Mr. Curry.
