Officer Nearly Killed: Justice System Yawns
/By: Lexie Bell
"I'm going to fucking kill you, bitch."
These were the words said to me by John Pugna on Aug. 18, 2019. He then proceeded to punch me in the face and head over a dozen times. He threw me on the ground and tried to gouge out my eyes. He violently attacked me in an attempt to end my life. All of this was captured on my body camera. His wife threw herself on top of me to get him to stop hitting me and while she was there, he said, "This is my wife, and she's the only reason you're still alive." I thought I was going to die that day. However, I fought like hell, I was able to get up, hold him at gunpoint, and he was arrested.
He was indicted for attempted murder, felonious assault, assault and three counts of aggravated menacing.
In typical Cuyahoga County fashion, they let him plead to felonious assault and aggravated menacing, even though he legitimately tried to kill me. I argued against it but I knew I wouldn't win that.
At the sentencing, Judge Daniel Gaul said some wonderful things about the police, how he supports us and how we are being unfairly treated by the media. He went on to say how terrible Pugnea's actions were that day and even called him out several times when he tried to make excuses for what he did because of substance abuse and a history of mental health issues.
Let me address that for a minute. The defense for him is that he had a workplace accident that caused him to suffer severe chemical poisoning in 1993 that put him in a coma and has thus ruined his life. OK, fine. But how about the fact that he tried to kill another North Royalton police officer back in 1982? What's his excuse for that? Judge Gaul brought that up in court and Pugnea got defensive saying that should have been expunged and was not relevant. Judge Gaul was apparently upset by this and called him out. This proves that he has a violent history prior to this accident. His history prior to the accident, to me, completely invalidates his argument that the accident is what caused his problems. Plus, everyone that I have ever met that knew Pugnea, going back to his high-school days, has said that he was always violent and aggressive and nobody was surprised by what he did.
Another argument is that he was given a book to read that suggested he go off his medications, and so he did. The combination of him being off his meds and him starting to drink again is also why he did what he did and that somehow mitigates his responsibility. At the end of the day, HE made the decision to go off his meds and HE made the decision to drink, therefore HE is solely responsible for his horrific actions.
Judge Daniel Gaul seemed to agree with the prosecution, given his nice speeches and apparent disgust for Pugnea. However, in a shock to everyone in the courtroom on sentencing day, this judge gave him the MINIMUM sentence for the felonious assault. 4 to 6 years in prison. Time served for the aggravated menacing since he had been in the county jail for about 10 months. I was floored and extremely upset. He basically got four years for the attempted murder of a police officer. The judge pulled me aside after his ruling and told me that Pugnea would serve his whole sentence and that if I ever needed anything, to call him. What I needed was for him to give him a fair sentence, but obviously I wasn't going to get that. I left court that day completely dejected but at least relieved that it was over.
That is until I got a phone call from a prosecutor saying that John Pugnea was just granted a judicial release by Judge Daniel Gaul after serving just nine months in prison. I was hysterical. I couldn't even talk.
The judicial release hearing was never put on the docket, so nobody other than the judge, defense, and prosecutor knew about it. Because it wasn't on the docket, the fail-safes they have at county where the victims would be notified completely failed. The prosecutor, who is actually a nice guy, is another overworked prosecutor at county and he was given this case with no knowledge and failed to realize its significance. He dropped the ball and never called me as I'm sure has happened many times, which is why they have the "fail-safes.” Why wasn't the original prosecutor assigned? I fully believe the judge tried to do this in silence so I would never find out. The only reason I did was because the prosecutor called me and admitted his mistake in not notifying me. A lot of people never own up to their mistakes, and I thank him greatly for that.
As of now, they put a hold on Pugnea's release because a lot of people are angry and have been putting pressure where they can. There has been a motion for reconsideration filed. The county violated the law by not notifying me of the hearing. Also, the judge did not give proper findings at the release hearing. Judge Gaul had to justify his reasons for judicial release under ORC 2929.20, part of which is by him justifying that "a sanction other than a prison term would not demean the seriousness of the offense." I'd really like to hear his justification on that one.
I don't know the reason. What I do know is that this whole thing is absolutely disgusting. This is a slap in the face to all police officers. Nine months in prison for the attempted murder of a police officer. Seems fair.
