Nick Bechtel

nbechtel@marionstar.com

MARION – After nearly three hours of deliberation, a 12-person jury determined a Marion woman intended to harm a firefighter during an altercation earlier this year.

Shelia Markley was found guilty of felonious assault after she fired a gun at an emergency crew responding to an illegal burn in her yard.

"This case is about firefighters who went to do their job and, whether it's because of alcohol, mental illness or anger, or a combination of all of those, the defendant shot at Lt. (Daren) Neuenschwander," Marion County Prosecutor Brent Yager said.

Markley, 43, of Marion, did not take the stand during the two-day trial, but Marion City Police Officer Michael Woods provided a video recording of the interview she gave police following the June 14 incident. In that recording, she said she was aiming at the ground and not at Neuenschwander, a member of the Marion City Fire Department.

"I shot them way over away from them," Shelia Markley said in the interview. "It wasn't even at them."

In his closing arguments, Yager said that "doesn't justify her shooting at the lieutenant." The jury agreed that she knowingly attempted to cause physical harm to Neuenschwander in their unanimous decision.

"Her statement was her warning," Yager said, referring to a threat she made to firefighters moments before she fired a handgun at the firefighter. "Her shot was her intent."

Markley's defense attorney David Lowther said during his closing arguments that felonious assault charges were not appropriate in this case.

"She may have a committed a crime," he said. "She may have committed several crimes.

"She knows she did something wrong, but she did not try to hurt this man."

In the recorded interview, Markley told police the firefighters were "being unreasonable" in asking her to put out a fire on her property at 456 E. Mark St.

"He looked right at it and laughed at me," Markley said in the interview to Marion City Police Officer Michael Woods. "Then he sprayed me with the hose some more."

Her claims countered testimony that Neuenschwander and another firefighter, Shawn Lester, made on Tuesday. Both said they were not taunting Markley and that she repeatedly stepped in front of the hose to block them from extinguishing a burning crib.

Allen Roberts, Markley's neighbor, also said Markley was being difficult at the scene.

"She's moving to block him," he said, recalling the interactions between the three that morning.

Roberts' home was struck by a bullet, believed to have been fired by Markley. The bullet was found lodged in a hole about five feet off the ground. Markley said the bullet must have ricocheted off the ground.

"There has been no evidence whatsoever of a ricochet," Yager said. "Maybe a theory, but no evidence."

Officer Michael Kindell, who transported Markley from the scene to the police station in his cruiser, said he smelled alcohol on Markley "when she got out of the vehicle."

In the interview, Markley admitted to having "a little tiny bottle" of liqueur prior to the assault.

According to the Ohio Revised Code, Markley could face between two and eight years prison for the second-degree felony. The assault is the first criminal charge on her record according to Marion Municipal Court records.

Markley's sentencing hearing will be scheduled on Thursday. Judge Jim Slagle anticipates the hearing will take place some time next week.

nbechtel@marionstar.com

740-375-5155

Twitter: @NickMStar