Auroraadvocate.com - Prosecutor asks delay in local shooting trial

by Ken Lahmers

Editor

Ravenna -- Portage County Common Pleas Judge John Enlow has set Jan. 21, 2009, as the date for a jury trial for Aurora resident Charles W. Rome II, who is accused of shooting his estranged wife in her Geauga Lake neighborhood home.

However, that date may be pushed back if the judge grants a postponement sought by assistant prosecutor Stephen Michniak.

Rome is charged with aggravated attempted murder in the Nov. 3 shooting of Heather Rome. She was treated at Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center for a gunshot wound to the shoulder and later released.

At his arraignment Nov. 7, Rome entered a plea of not guilty to two counts of attempted aggravated murder, one count of kidnapping and one count of disrupting public service.

His trial is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. The pretrial date is Jan. 16 at 1 p.m.

On Nov. 17, Michniak filed a request for a continuance of the case, stating that an Aurora police officer who is a key witness will be out of the country then.

As of Nov. 28, the judge had not ruled on the continuance request, according to the common pleas court's Web site.

Rome is in the Portage County Jail after Enlow set bond at 10 percent of $1 million, ordered that Rome have no contact with the victim and appointed the Portage County public defender's office to represent him.

According to Aurora Lt. Rob Hagquist, police were called to Heather Rome's Bryce Avenue home Nov. 2 about 10 p.m. after she reported she was shot in the shoulder by a man with a shotgun, who then fled.

In a 911 call released by police, a woman who identified herself as Heather Rome said a man she couldn't identify came in her front door and shot her in the arm with a shotgun.

She said two of her three children -- ages 2 and 4 -- were with her. They were unharmed, police said.

Earlier on Nov. 2, Heather had filed a police report, claiming Charles was harassing her on the telephone.

With help from surrounding law enforcement teams, Aurora police searched for Charles throughout the night and into the early morning hours, according to Hagquist.

He said Rome was arrested without incident at a business on Campus Drive in the southern industrial zone after an employee called police to report a suspicious person had entered the building.

E-mail: klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155