LISBON — A jury trial is now set for Jan. 20 in the case against a man charged with kidnapping, tampering with evidence, felonious assault and firearm specifications for a March 12 shooting incident in Madison Township.

Hunter Congrove, 22, state Route 45, Lisbon, appeared recently in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court for a pretrial before Judge Megan Bickerton, who also set a status hearing for Jan. 12.

During the hearing, Congrove’s appointed defense attorney T. Robert Bricker was permitted to withdraw from the case and Charley Kidder was appointed as Congrove’s new defense attorney.

The kidnapping count is a first-degree felony while the felonious assault is a second-degree felony. Both charges carry a firearm specification for Congrove allegedly using a firearm to cause harm to the victim and restrain his liberty. The tampering with evidence charge is a third-degree felony related to the incident.

Congrove’s bond was set at $100,000 cash or surety and he remains jailed.

According to a county sheriff’s report, the sheriff’s office received a call at 4:07 p.m. March 12 from a woman who reported a man she knew shot Shawn Harpold in the leg with a shotgun and Harpold was being driven to the emergency room at East Liverpool City Hospital.

According to the sheriff’s report, a sergeant with the sheriff’s office was able to talk with the victim before he was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment.

The report said the victim advised they were in the house and the alleged shooter was allegedly high on drugs when he pulled a shotgun on him, he told him to go ahead and shoot him and he shot him. The suspect had apparently fled the residence in a Jeep before deputies arrived.

At the time of the incident, Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin said the man identified as the alleged shooter was taken into custody on other charges after deputies received a report of a suspicious person on Mick Road in Yellow Creek Township later in the evening.

A woman reported arriving home to find a man in the driveway with a gas can sitting close to him and he had a dog on a leash at 6:58 p.m. March 12. When deputies arrived, he was still there and taken into custody. The Jeep was found on Y&O Road.

Another case against Congrove remains pending for two counts fourth-degree felony assault and misdemeanors of aggravated menacing, obstructing official business and resisting arrest for allegedly biting a police officer, attempting to grab his taser and kicking another police officer in the face during a physical altercation while they were trying to take him into custody for an incident in St. Clair Township on July 26, 2024. An affidavit said he started to resist and got into the altercation with police, who took him to the ground and tased him during the scuffle. He also allegedly gave several fake names and lied about his identity.

A status hearing in that case remains set for 9 a.m. Aug. 14, with a jury trial set for Aug. 25.