Less than a week after pleading guilty to shooting "in close proximity" of his wife in a March 10 incident that led to a standoff with Lucas County sheriff's deputies, Michael Swiergosz was granted a January trial date yesterday to face charges resulting from a second, separate confrontation with police.
The trial of Swiergosz, 47, of 615 Scenic Drive, was to begin yesterday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on multiple charges resulting from the April 28 standoff with police that temporarily shut an Ottawa Hills retirement village and several schools in the area. Also scheduled was sentencing for his plea in an earlier case in which he held authorities at bay for several hours in March outside his
Springfield Township home.
The trial was pushed back to Jan. 26 and he will be sentenced Dec. 21 on one count of felonious assault with a gun specification. Judge Denise Ann Dartt could sentence him to 11 years in prison.
"He was willing from day one to accept responsibility for the incident," attorney Jane Roman said. "We made a strategic decision to conclude one of the cases. … We are in nonstop communication with the prosecutor and we are still optimistic" that a second resolution can be met.
The separate incidents involve standoffs with authorities that each lasted several hours.Swiergosz is accused of holding his estranged wife captive at her place of employment on April 28 at Sunset Retirement Communities on Indian Road.
He is charged with three counts of kidnapping, one count of felonious assault, two counts of rape, one count of aggravated burglary, and one count of intimidation of a crime victim or witness, all with gun specifications. The father of three also is charged with one count of having a weapon while under indictment for a felony.
The incident was reported to have occurred while he was free on bond in a separate case that occurred just weeks earlier.
On March 10, Swiergosz was charged with shooting at his wife and 8-year-old daughter. In that case, Swiergosz pleaded guilty Nov. 10 to one count of felonious assault with a gun specification. A second felonious assault charge will be dismissed.
Swiergosz also faces up to five years in prison when sentenced Dec. 11 in Wood County Common Pleas Court. There he entered a plea to burglary for taking the gun out of an acquaintance's home that was used in the standoff on Indian Road.
Judge Dartt ordered a presentence report for the sentencing. She added that she would grant no further continuances, calling Jan. 26 a "final trial date."
Contact Erica Blake at:
eblake@theblade.com
or 419-213-2134.
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