YOUNGSTOWN No license nets jail time

He's not working or going to school at the places his lawyer mentioned.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Brandit Franklin, a convicted drug and gun felon who hasn't had a valid driver's license in years, will be in jail from now until St. Patrick's Day.
Franklin, 25, of Woodford Avenue, was sentenced Wednesday in municipal court. Last month, he pleaded no contest to driving under suspension and loud music. A second driving-under-suspension charge was dismissed.
In July, Franklin, already on probation for DUS, received two more within one week. In March, Franklin had pleaded no contest to a DUS that stemmed from an arrest in August 2002, and Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. of municipal court sentenced him to 60 days in jail, suspended it all, placed him on one year's probation and ordered him to obtain a valid license.
Wednesday, Judge Douglas sentenced him to 120 days in jail. The judge said Franklin's record of multiple DUS convictions showed that he has no respect for the law, that he flouted it.
Franklin said the last time he has a valid license was likely in 2000.
"I'm going to tell it like it is -- be straight up with you," Judge Douglas told Franklin.
The judge called what Franklin did in July "dumb stuff," because the loud music attracted police, who discovered he had no valid license. The judge said it was as if Franklin was saying "Come get me."
Before sentencing, Franklin's Youngstown attorney, Robert Rohrbaugh, asked that Judge Douglas consider electronically monitored house arrest so that Franklin could work at Star Extrusions and attend New Castle School of Trades. After the sentencing, Rohrbaugh said he will file a motion requesting that the judge grant Franklin work and school release privileges from the jail.
A spokesman at Star Extruded Shapes in Canfield said Friday that Franklin no longer works there -- he was employed from May 23 to Aug. 21, 2000. Tony Giovannelli, NCST director of education, said Friday that he never heard of Franklin.
Other sentences
Franklin shaved about 21/2 years off a state prison term by completing an intensive 90-day program, called boot camp, at Southeastern Correctional Institution (near Lancaster, Ohio). Of a three-year sentence imposed in August 2001 on gun and drug convictions, he served about 41/2 months, from Sept. 6, 2001 to Jan. 28, 2002.
Franklin's Mahoning County Common Pleas Court records show he has previously been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and possession of cocaine.
meade@vindy.com