By Marci Piltz
Record-Courier staff writer
Tears of joy and long overdue sighs of relief filled a Portage County courtroom Wednesday after Randy Resh was found not guilty in the 8 murder of Connie Nardi.
"I never thought this day would come," said a tearful Resh, 43, as ecstatic friends and family celebrated in Judge Laurie Pittman’s courtroom of Portage County Common Pleas Court.
As soon as Pittman dismissed the jurors and left the bench, Resh picked up a cell phone and called his lifelong friend, Robert Gondor also charged in the murder and set to face retrial on May 14 to tell him the news.
"He said we did a good job," Resh said after he hung up the phone.
Traci Grimm, Resh’s ex-wife, said she felt "wonderful" after each verdict was read by the jury foreman not guilty to the charge of attempted rape; not guilty to the charge of murder; and not guilty to the lesser included offense of manslaughter.
"This has been a long time coming 16 and a half years," said Resh’s mother, Eleanor Resh.
Soon after exiting the Portage County courthouse, Resh bent down and pulled up his pant leg to reveal an electronic monitoring bracelet. A relative handed him a pair of wire cutters and soon, the bracelet, a condition of his January release on bond, was coming off. Resh then walked across the street to the Portage County Adult Probation Department and turned the bracelet in.
Meeting back outside with family members, Resh smiled as one person after another gave congratulatory hugs. Asked what his next move would be, Resh grabbed at his necktie.
"I’m gonna go home and change and go to Bob’s house," he said.
See Thursday’s edition of the Record-Courier for more on this story.