Craig M. Kitts, 44, was indicted earlier this year by a Portage County grand jury on one count of carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony,

Craig M. Kitts, 44, was indicted earlier this year by a Portage County grand jury on one count of carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony, and one count of possession of heroin, a fifth-degree felony.

Ravenna police spokesman Lt. David Rarrick said officers came into contact with Kitts on Sept. 4, 2009, while responding to a report of a suspicious person in the 400 block of South Walnut Street.

Officers checking the area located Kitts and questioned him, Rarrick said. While questioning Kitts and patting him down to make sure he was not armed, officers found a spring-loaded knife and heroin, he said.

Rarrick said Ravenna police have had numerous contacts with Kitts in the past. He said the seizure of the knife was a positive outcome as “someone with a concealed weapon is a concern to us.”

Kitts, who is currently incarcerated in a community-based corrections facility in Summit County, was granted a personal recognizance bond June 30 by Judge John Enlow during his arraignment on the charges in Portage County Common Pleas Court.

A trial date is set for Nov. 30, according to court records. The weapons charge is punishable by up to 18 months in prison, and the drug charge up to a year in prison.

The concealed weapons charge is a felony because of Kitts’ prior conviction on involuntary manslaughter and felony domestic violence charges in the November 2000 death of his wife, Lori Kitts.

According to prior accounts of the case in the Record-Courier, Craig and Lori Kitts got into an argument on Nov. 4, 2000, in their home at 121 Brady St. in Kent. A police investigation later revealed that Craig Kitts smashed his wife’s head between the front door and a wall of the house.

Lori Kitts, 27, was found unconscious 60 feet from the couple’s home in front of another house on Brady Street. She died the next day at Akron City Hospital. The couple were parents of an 18-month-old child.

An autopsy found that Lori Kitts had suffered numerous blunt force injuries to her head. Kent police arrested Craig Kitts on Nov. 17 and he was indicted a week later on murder and felony domestic violence charges.

A jury convicted Craig Kitts in February 2001 of involuntary manslaughter, a third-degree felony, and domestic violence, a fifth-degree felony, and he was sentenced in March 2001 by Portage County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Kainrad to six-years in prison, the maximum allowable by law on the two charges.