A wife’s testimony has persuaded a judge to allow a Villager to escape prosecution in a domestic violence case.
This past month, a judge in Lake County Court ruled that 59-year-old Tony Black can enter into a pre-trial intervention contract that will allow him to escape prosecution following his arrest Sept. 27 at his home on Pebble Beach Lane in the Village of Orange Blossom Gardens. The contract states he must undergo a mental health evaluation and cannot have hostile contact with his wife. Court records indicate she testified on her husband’s behalf.
A neighbor intervened upon hearing Black’s wife “hysterically screaming for help.” The wife told the neighbor that Black, who stands 6 feet tall and weighs 245 pounds, had choked her, pulled her hair and prevented her from leaving the house. She indicated that she and Black, who have been married for a decade, had “a disagreement over finances.”
When the wife tried to leave, Black forcefully removed her Apple watch and threatened to smash her phone. He told her that if she called the police they “would both die.”
The neighbor took the woman back to her home and contacted law enforcement.
