Saturday, August 30, 2003
The judge called Wayne Gilliam a weasel.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Wayne Gilliam could have cut his prison sentence by more than half if he'd agreed to take the witness stand.
But he would have been testifying in someone else's trial, not his own.
Gilliam was sentenced to 54 years to life in prison Wednesday by Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for his role in a March 24 shooting at a Rutledge Drive house.
Prosecutors had offered Gilliam a 23-year sentence if he would plead guilty and agree to testify against co-defendant John Drummond, said assistant prosecutor Timothy Franken.
"He turned it down," Franken said.
Gilliam instead went to trial and was convicted Tuesday evening of multiple counts of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, felonious assault and firing a gun into a habitation.
Prosecutors say Gilliam, 21, drove Drummond to the Rutledge Drive house just before 11:30 p.m., waited in the car with the engine running while Drummond got out with an AK-47 assault rifle and fired some 10 shots at the house, then drove away when Drummond got back into the car.
Three-month-old Jiyen C. Dent Jr., who was sitting in a baby swing in the living room, was shot in the head and killed as bullets ripped through the house. His parents, Jiyen C. Dent Sr. and LaToya Butler, were also in the house but were not shot.
"If you assist a shooter, you are just as guilty as the shooter," said Prosecutor Paul Gains.
Despite Gilliam's role in the shooting, Butler said she does not believe he is a bad person.
"You are a follower," she said to Gilliam before the sentence was imposed. "That's exactly what you are."
About the infant
Butler said her infant son had fought to live after being born two months premature and undergoing two hernia operations.
"For him to be taken out like that ... that is so messed up," she said.
Gilliam did not look at Butler as she spoke to him.
"I don't think you're a follower. I think you're a weasel," Judge Cronin said to Gilliam. "One little 140-pound, follower weasel sucked the soul out of so many people that night."
Defense attorney Damian Billak had asked the judge to impose minimum sentences, citing Gilliam's youth, lack of past criminal convictions and his supportive family.
"I believe Wayne does have a future," he said.
Drummond's case is set for trial in January, and Franken said there's no plea offer on the table for him.
"We like our case against him and we have every intention of seeing it through," he said.
Franken said he's not sure whether Gilliam will testify against Drummond, but he's confident Drummond will be convicted even without that testimony. Drummond faces charges identical to Gilliam's, but could face the death penalty if he is convicted.
bjackson@vindy.com