Defiance teen gets a mistrial

A Defiance teen’s robbery case in Defiance County Common Pleas Court ended in a mistrial Wednesday afternoon. The ruling was based on one of Kasym Assaf’s co-defendants who testified unexpectedly that he confessed his involvement during an Oct. 23 interview with a city police officer at the Four-County Juvenile Detention Center. The defense attorney said that it was represented that the interview was about a different matter and had nothing to do with the Oct. 18 robbery. The Judge granted the mistrial, sent the jury home and dismissed the charges of robbery and theft of a juvenile of sneakers and a bicycle in Defiance’s Diehl Park in October.