No indictment for man accused of retaliation against judge

A man charged with allegedly threatening former Middletown Municipal Court Judge Melynda Cook Howard was not indicted by a grand jury.

Timothy Wayne Abney, 41, of the 2300 block of Waneta Street, was charged with retaliation, a third-degree felony, in December for words he allegedly uttered after a hearing.

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Abney, who was in Cook Howard’s courtroom on Dec. 8 for a hearing on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, was accused of calling her names and saying he better not find out where she lived. This allegedly happened while he was being led back the the city jail.

The case was bound over for consideration by a Butler County grand jury on Dec. 18 by visiting Judge Thomas Hanna. The grand jury declined to indict Abney for retaliation, according to the grand jury report released Wednesday.

Abney remains housed in the Butler County Jail today on a probation violation.

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