Judge: Attack of security guard ‘something out of a horror movie’

“This was something out of a horror movie, but it was all too real,” Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge E. Gerald Parker Jr. said before sentencing a man who attacked and permanently blinded a security guard in October 2023 at the Premier Health building in downtown Dayton.

James Timothy Fickling, 28, of Springfield was sentenced to 26 to 31½ years in prison, the maximum possible, which Parker said he imposed based on Fickling’s conduct during the attack.

Gloria Courtney, who was guided to the counsel stand by her two daughters, told the court that instead of having malice and hatefulness in her heart for what happened, that “God taught me love and forgiveness and how to love others and how to forgive. Mr. Fickling, if you want to know, I truly forgive you from my heart. …

“I pray that whatever your time spent behind bars, wherever they send you, I pray that you draw strength from God as well,” Courtney said to her assailant.

Fickling previously entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and was scheduled to go to trial March 2. However, he pleaded guilty Feb. 27 to a dozen charges: three counts of kidnapping and obstructing official business, two counts of assault and one count each of felonious assault, attempt to commit felonious assault, inducing panic and a misdemeanor count of menacing.

Defense attorney Jay Adams, who represented Fickling, asked that before sentencing the court give weight to the fact that his client accepted responsibility by pleading guilty.

“There is a history here of mental issues, and certainly other issues that Mr. Fickling has suffered from. … I don’t know that it’s necessarily mitigating, but I think it does speak to what happened in this case," Adams said.

Around 5 p.m. Oct. 21, 2023, Fickling entered the Premier Health building at 110 N. Main St. in downtown Dayton and removed his clothes before jumping around and pulling the fire alarm.

When Courtney, then 66, investigated, a video from the Premier Health building shows that Fickling attacked her. She fought back before he brutally kicked her in the abdomen, causing her to fall to the floor motionless. That’s when he dragged her across the floor and jumped up and slammed his knee into her face eight times, causing numerous facial fractures, according to court records.

“He then left the victim lying on the floor with significant head injuries before returning minutes later. He then separately committed a felonious assault, when he climbed on top the the victim and clawed out her eyes, leaving her blind,” according to a sentencing memorandum from Jennifer Buschur, trial supervisor for the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, that sought the maximum, consecutive sentence.

When the Dayton Fire Department responded to the alarm, Fickling attacked one of the firefighters, grabbing at his eyes and leaving him with a corneal abrasion to his left eye and facial lacerations.

As officers attempted to restrain Fickling, he attempted to bite the leg of one of the officers. It was only administering two doses of ketamine, which is a general anesthetic and sedative, that Fickling stopped fighting, according to court documents.

Adams disagreed that his client should have received the maximum, consecutive sentence and noted there likely would be an appeal.