The appeal of a Champion Township man who was convicted in 2023 of assaulting a man and a police officer with an ax has been denied by Ohio’s 11th District Court of Appeals.

According to the Trumbull County District Attorney’s Office, the court denied the appeal of Randy Pence, 41, who is serving an indefinite prison sentence of six to nine years on two counts of felonious assault.

The charges stem from an incident in September 2022 when Pence attacked a man with an axe and barricaded himself in a shed.

Police attempted to get Pence to leave the shed, but he threatened to fight off anyone who entered and placed objects in front of the door to prevent anyone from entering.

Police eventually managed to open the door a few inches and Pence threw the axe at an officer, striking him in the arm. The officer was not seriously injured.

In his appeal, Pence argued that the trial court allowed the state to amend the indictment to omit the word “serious” from the phrase “serious physical harm,” but the appeals court found that claim to be without merit.

Pence will remain incarcerated at the Allen Correctional Institution.