Court Watching: Terry Mills awaiting sentencing in Ohio for stabbing man in neck

Terry L. Mills, 60, a local character who had lived in the Belleville area for decades, is out on $25,000 personal bond in Ohio awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to felonious assault for stabbing a man in the neck.
The stabbing occurred at about 4:40 p.m., Dec. 4, 2014 in Lorain County, Ohio.
On Tuesday, Lorain Detective Brian Denman said the case is still pending in the Lorain County court system.
The Aug. 19 sentencing before Judge Raymond Ewers had been converted to a status conference by the court. Mills, who is considered indigent, is being represented by court-appointed attorney Nicholas J. Hanek of Elyria, Ohio.
Police in Lorain County said they followed a blood trail to Mills’ apartment after he stabbed Roy Lewis, Sr., 57, in the jugular at an apartment down the street. Police found Lewis lying on the grass in front of the apartment.
Police applied a QuickClot Combat Gauze packet to Lewis’ wound (described as a slit, not gaping wound) to stop the bleeding as they waited for a medical crew. Lewis was taken by medical helicopter to the intensive care unit at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland and was listed in stable condition. Police report Lewis was extremely drunk and bleeding profusely when they arrived.
Lewis was treated at the hospital and later released.
Police said there was blood on the door handle at Mills’ apartment when they arrived. They knocked and said Mills invited them in. They said the blood trail continued to Mills who wasn’t wearing pants.
A knife believed to be the weapon used was found and Mills was arrested and charged with felonious assault. He was held in the Lorain County Jail on $10,000 cash bond until his first hearing on Dec. 11 and thereafter. In April he was released on personal bond and in May he changed his not-guilty plea to guilty.
Lorain police officers Marcus Haring and Robert Gnagy were honored for quick thinking in using the QuickClot Combat Gauze packet Officer Haring bought online for $40 to add to his first-aid kit because he thought it might be used to save someone’s life. He had heard about it during his service in Iraq. He handed the coated gauze to Officer Gnagy, who applied it with pressure, which medical personnel said saved Lewis’ life.