Maxie apologized to the pastor during his sentencing hearing Wednesday morning, his hands shaking as he read a handwritten letter in front of the court. In his letter, Maxie said he did not go to Bridge Community Church on the morning of Oct. 20 with the intention of harming Hayes, but that the emotional pain of dealing with his father’s sickness caused him to snap at the pastor the day of the attack.
“That pain is what I walked into that church with,” Maxie said. “I was spiritually sick and needed a doctor, but instead I released that sickness onto Mr. Hayes.”
After the church services that day, in which Hayes said Maxie was argumentative and confrontational, Maxie attacked Hayes in the hallway of the church, striking the pastor several times in the face.
After the hearing, Hayes said it has been a long road to recovery. He suffered a broken nose, bruises and three cuts that required stitches and left permanent scars across his face. Hayes said he also had issues with sleeplessness and pain in his shoulder, which was possibly from the fall he took when Maxie knocked him unconscious in the altercation.
Throughout the months of recovery, it was a day-by-day process of forgiving Maxie, Hayes said.
“I want him to go to prison hearing from me that I have extended him forgiveness,” Hayes said. “(Forgiveness) is a gift, it’s something that you can’t earn.”
This sentencing was not the first time Maxie has been ordered into an Ohio prison. He previously served two years after being convicted of a felonious assault and was sentenced to five years of probation in a sex offense case in Clark County. Maxie was already granted “mercy” from the law in this trial, when during his plea deal a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest and a repeat violent offender charge were dropped, said Clark County Prosecutor Andrew Wilson.
“Now we need to focus on criminal accountability and the only sentence that really holds him accountable is the maximum sentence,” Wilson said.
Bridge Community Church has also been shaken since the attack and the congregation has put new safety measures into effect — not only for the safety of Rev. Hayes, but the entire church. After he is released from prison, Hayes hopes Maxie will be a changed man.
“I really do hope that he will learn the lesson that life is not just about yourself, it’s about how what I do affects other people,” Hayes said.
Maxie will receive credit for his time served in jail since his arrest in October. After his release from prison, Maxie will be put on three years of post-release control.
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