YOUNGSTOWN Killer gets more than 30 years

The judge imposed maximum, consecutive sentences.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Christopher Scott didn't get a chance to hear a judge sentence him to prison for more than 30 years Tuesday afternoon.
That's because deputy sheriffs had to drag the 23-year-old Scott out of the courtroom for launching into a profanity-laced tirade against Prosecutor Paul Gains just before Judge Maureen A. Cronin imposed the sentence.
Scott was convicted by a jury last week of aggravated murder in the January 1997 shooting death of his former girlfriend, Lori Townsend. He also was convicted of attempted aggravated murder.
Scott's convictions stem from the shotgun shooting of Townsend, who was a passenger in a car with Albert Byrd. Witnesses have said Byrd was the intended target.
Scott admitted being present the night Townsend was killed, but insisted he did not pull the trigger.
But Judge Cronin pointed out that two different juries felt otherwise.
"There was a mountain of evidence against you," she said.
Scott had first been tried and convicted on the same charges in 1997, and Judge Cronin sentenced him to life in prison.
The 7th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction because Judge Cronin had kept out testimony from three Mahoning County jail inmates who said they had heard another man admit the murder.
This time, Judge Cronin allowed the testimony, but only one person could be found.
Scott complained that he was convicted on the word of Byrd, whom he called "sleazy" and a liar.
Evidence
But Judge Cronin pointed out that evidence against Scott included gunshot residue being found on his hands.
"I don't know how you sleep at night, seeing a picture in your mind of that young lady with half her head blown off," the judge said.
She imposed a mandatory term of 20 years to life in prison for the aggravated murder conviction and the maximum term of 10 years for the attempted aggravated murder. Scott also was sentenced to three years for using a gun.
The sentences are to run consecutively.
Defense attorney Michael Rich had asked for a lesser sentence on the aggravated murder charge and that the sentences be served at the same time.
He pointed out that Scott was just 17 years old at the time of the crime and is still young enough to be rehabilitated.
Imposing the maximum sentences and running them back-to-back "may amount to cruel and unusual punishment," Rich said.
Judge Cronin pointed out that Scott has had other chances for rehabilitation, including time spent in a juvenile detention facility, but has not changed.
"It's the only life he knows," she said.
bjackson@vindy.com