YOUNGSTOWN Man receives sentence in bar shooting

By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city man already facing federal prison time on drug charges was sentenced to a state penitentiary for shooting a bar bouncer.
Andre Mason, 32, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to aggravated assault and a firearm specification. As part of a plea agreement with the prosecutor's office, the assault charge was reduced from felonious assault.
Mason, a former Youngstown State University football player, was sentenced by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum to three years in prison for the firearm specification and 18 months for the aggravated assault.
The three-year sentence for using a gun is mandatory under Ohio law, and the 18-month aggravated assault sentence is the maximum allowed, said assistant prosecutor Terry Grenga.
She said Mason shot Cornelius Payne in the stomach in August 2000, outside Larry's Lounge on Hillman Street. Payne was a bouncer at the South Side bar and had thrown Mason out after the two got into an argument, Grenga said.
Fight in parking lot
When Payne left the bar later that night, Mason was waiting for him in the parking lot. The two exchanged words again, then got into a fight. At one point, Mason pulled a gun and shot Payne. The case had been set for trial today.
In October, Mason pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine. Judge Ann Aldrich will sentence him in January. He faces 46 to 57 months in prison.
Federal authorities say Mason and seven others controlled crack sales in the West Glenaven and Oak Hill avenues area on the city's South Side. The eight men were indicted in June after an investigation by the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force gang unit.
The unit includes officers with the Youngstown Police Department and Mahoning County Drug Task Force and agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
bjackson@vindy.com