Salem man accused of sex crimes involving children found competent
Sanity evaluation granted for possible not guilty plea
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LISBON -- A Salem man charged with rape and multiple other sex-related acts involving two children over multiple years was declared competent to stand trial.
Mark E. Knight, 58, North Ellsworth Avenue, appeared in a wheelchair in the custody of a deputy for the hearing Monday before Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton.
During the brief hearing, Bickerton accepted the competency evaluation which found him competent. His defense attorney, Terry Grenga, indicated she recently filed a motion for a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and requested a sanity evaluation, which Bickerton granted.
Bickerton said a new status hearing date will be set after she receives the new report from the Forensic Psychiatric Center of Northeast Ohio.
Knight's co-defendant, Jan M. McHenry, 40, also North Ellsworth Avenue, Salem, was already found competent to stand trial for her separate case.
Her jury trial remains set for 9 a.m. Dec. 8, with a final status hearing at 9 a.m. Nov. 23.
They both remain jailed under $100,000 cash or surety bonds.
The state was represented in the hearing by county Assistant Prosecutors Jennifer Bonish and Steve Yacovone.
Both McHenry and Knight are each charged with three counts of third-degree felony gross sexual imposition for allegedly having sexual contact with a child from Nov. 16, 2014 through Nov. 15, 2017 beginning when the child was just seven years old.
They're each charged with three counts of rape, a first-degree felony, for allegedly having sexual conduct with that same child from Nov. 16, 2017 through Nov. 15, 2020 beginning when the child was 10 years old.
Both are charged with six counts each of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, for allegedly having sexual conduct with that same child from Nov. 16, 2020 through Nov. 15, 2023 beginning at age 13 and with a different child from April 10, 2019 through Nov. 25, 2025 beginning when that child was 10 years old.
Knight is facing an additional three counts of gross sexual imposition for allegedly having sexual contact with the first child from Nov. 16, 2017 through Nov. 15, 2020.