The case of an East Liverpool man sentenced to prison for allegedly stabbing a woman in 2022 is going back before the judge who found him guilty.

An appeals court has overturned the conviction and sentence of 52-year-old Joseph Boyer, who had been serving an 8-to-12-year sentence in a state prison.

Boyer was sentenced after pleading guilty to domestic violence and felonious assault after police say he stabbed a woman with kitchen knives on July 7, 2022.

The appeals judges ruled that Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam should have granted Boyer’s request to withdraw his guilty plea because Boyer was under the false impression that he could have been sentenced to an even longer prison term if convicted of attempted felony murder.

As it turned out, Boyer had not been told that the attempted felony murder charge he faced would have been dismissed anyway because there is no such charge in Ohio and can’t be prosecuted.

Boyer will be transferred to the Columbiana County Jail to await an April 25th status hearing in Common Pleas Court.