05-07-2025
Bond upped to $5 million for man accused of stabbing Patrick Heringer during home break-in
Bond was increased to $5 million for the man accused of fatally stabbing Patrick Heringer in his Over-the-Rhine home earlier this month.
Mordecia Black, 38, is accused of killing Heringer, 46, during an early-morning home burglary June 4. Black entered the home, attacked Heringer's wife Sarah and then stabbed Patrick Heringer after he tried to protect her, Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Elyse Deters said during an arraignment June 18. Deters said surveillance camera footage showed Black exit the home after the murder.
Deters argued that Black's "complete disregard for the law" throughout his adult life – all but one year of which has been spent in prison – posed a significant risk for the community.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Winkler hiked Black's bond from $2.25 million to $5 million, one of the highest bonds set in Hamilton County in recent years.
In 2019, a Hamilton County judge set bond at $5 million for a priest accused of raping an altar boy decades earlier. Before that, a bond of $10.6 million was set in 2006 for a couple accused of killing their foster child.
Black's attorney Chris Collman said the bond continues to be beyond any amount Black would be able to pay.
In January, Black completed a nine-and-a-half-year prison sentence and was under state supervision in a halfway house with an ankle monitor, officials said. He went missing and cut off the ankle monitor in February, officials said.
By May, Cincinnati police said he was involved in another burglary. And in June, prosecutors say he killed Heringer.
Deters said the killing might not have happened had Black not "slipped through the cracks."
"Why was Mordecia Black out?" Deters asked during the hearing. "There is no question that if Mordecia Black is released, he will hurt more people and kill more people."
Black began getting into trouble with the law when he was 13.
Before turning 18, Black had 27 different cases in Hamilton County Juvenile Court, most of which were for violating court orders such as curfew, but also included charges of assault, receiving stolen property and carrying a gun. He spent nine months in a youth prison in two separate stints.
Since turning 18, Black has spent 19 of his 20 years as an adult in prison, Deters said.
In 2006, Black was convicted twice for selling crack, serving six months in one case and 13 months in the other.
More: Ohio officials: Police should have seen warrant for man accused in OTR gym owner stabbing
A year later, when he was 20, Black had his first lengthy sentence, serving seven years for a robbery that happened in Northern Kentucky.
Then, in 2012, he was arrested for selling heroin, leading police on a chase and trying to ditch his firearm as he ran. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
Most recently, he served nine and a half years after beating a man on Government Square following a concert in 2016.
Since Heringer's death, Sarah Heringer has become an outspoken critic of a system and a city she said failed her husband. She has called for more police officers to be hired and increased visibility of those officers. She has also said that Black should not have been on the streets.
Her words have already made a difference. Last week, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction changed its policy. In addition to issuing a warrant when a person jumps probation, the agency will now also directly notify local law enforcement.
Heringer, a decorated Army veteran, and his wife ran Findlay Movement across from the namesake market. They have been a steady presence in the community since founding their first gym in the area over a decade ago.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Mordecia Black bond increased to $5 million in Over-the-Rhine stabbing
