10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Wife Says No Torture, But Case Moving On

She said it never happened. But the case of a Jackson County man accused of torturing his wife for more than a decade is headed to the grand jury.

On Friday, a Jackson County magistrate denied a defense motion to dismiss the case after hearing of physical abuse and saw photos of the alleged victim taken at a domestic violence shelter last month.

Thirty-seven year old Peter Lizon was arrested and changed with one count of malicious assault against his 43-year-old wife Stephanie Lizon.

Mrs. Lizon took the stand during the preliminary hearing. She denied her husband ever intentionally hit, punched, burned, shackled or otherwise injured her on purpose.

When shown a picture of herself with two burns on her back and one on her breast from a hot pan, Mrs. Lizon described what happened.

"It was an accident,” she said. “My husband and I were arguing over breakfast. We often get very passionate in our arguments. I often am without a shirt in my own home, which I think is my right. And we collided with each other."

But a worker at the Family Crisis Intervention Center in Parkersburg, where Mrs. Lizon took shelter June 18-20, testified that’s not what Mrs. Lizon told her when she was interviewed during her stay.

"She said she did not prepare the meal correctly and her husband Peter had hit her with the hot pan she had been cooking in," testified the shelter worker, whose name is being kept confidential by the court.

Assistant Jackson County Prosecutor Katie Casto asked, "Did she say whether it was an accident or intentional?"

The shelter worker says Mrs. Lizon made it clear. "She said it was intentional."

Mrs. Lizon explained away other injuries including two swollen and bruised feet she said had been hit when her husband accidentally dropped a hay baler while the two were working on their farm.

Once again the shelter worker says that’s not what Mrs. Lizon told her during their talk.

"She said that Peter had dropped a hay baler on her foot the first time but then he continually kept re-injuring it. Like he would get mad at her and stomp her foot as he would walk by."

During her stay at the shelter, the worker says Mrs. Lizon contacted her mother in Virginia and arraigned for a bus ticket to take her there. But according to the worker, Mrs. Lizon never got on that bus.

"The next morning came and she said she wasn’t getting on the bus that she had a one-year-old child that was still left with the abuser and she was going to get [the baby]."

Mrs. Lizon never returned to the shelter. But her information was passed on to social services as required by law, which led to Peter Lizon’s arrest.

After a more than two-hour hearing, Jackson County Magistrate Jackie Casto ruled the case be to sent to Jackson County Circuit Court.

Peter Lizon wanted a reduction in his bond, currently set at $300,000, but that request will have to wait until his first appearance before a circuit judge. No date for that hearing has been set.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lizon will remain in the South Central Regional Jail.

 





More News

News
MetroNews This Morning 3-28-24
Summary of West Virginia news/sports/weather for Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024 - 6:25 am
News
PSC approves settlements involving Mon Power, net-metering cases
Rate increase went into effect Tuesday.
March 27, 2024 - 9:42 pm
News
Speakers at Focus Forward symposium discuss AI capabilities in West Virginia
The event was organized by the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
March 27, 2024 - 8:30 pm
News
Justice vetoes vaccination exemption bill, draws praise from healthcare groups
Educational and healthcare organizations banded together to urge a veto.
March 27, 2024 - 6:35 pm


Your Comments