After a week-long jury trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, a former nurse’s aide was found guilty Friday of patient abuse for striking a patient with mental health problems at a local nursing home where she worked.

Tacarra Bryson, 31, of 10 Southard Ave. is to be sentenced May 15 by Judge Gary Cook on the charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison. After deliberating for nearly seven hours Thursday and Friday, the jury found Bryson guilty of punching a patient in the head while the patient was being restrained on the floor at Liberty West Nursing Center, 2051 Collingwood Blvd.

First Published April 13, 2013, 4:28 a.m.