COMMON PLEAS COURT Judge sentences man to 5 years for shooting

The Hammaker Street man could have gotten up to 19 years in prison.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- As Timothy Clay faced a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge who was about to send him to prison, he insisted he is innocent.
"It was just a bunch of lies," Clay said of witnesses who had testified against him during a trial. "I'm about to go do some time for something I didn't do. But it's cool."
Clay, 24, of Hammaker Street, was convicted in February of two counts of felonious assault and a firearm specification. Visiting Judge Charles J. Bannon, who had found Clay guilty, sentenced him to a total of five years in prison Friday.
Clay had waived his right to have the matter decided by a jury and instead allowed Judge Bannon to reach a verdict alone. Before the sentence was pronounced, Clay said he can't understand how the judge found him guilty.
"I called this case as I saw it," Judge Bannon said. "And the way I saw it was that you were guilty of these offenses."
Assistant Prosecutor Robert Andrews said Clay fired several gunshots at people who were standing outside a house on Stansbury Drive on Oct. 10, 2003. No one was hit by the shots.
Maintains his innocence
"To this day, he maintains he didn't do it," said defense attorney Mark Lavelle.
Andrews said the shooting stemmed from an "ongoing problem" between Clay's nephew and someone who lived at the house.
"When I listened to the testimony of those witnesses, they convinced me," Judge Bannon said.
Andrews asked that Judge Bannon impose maximum sentences for each count and run them consecutively, which would have given Clay a 19-year prison term. Instead, the judge imposed minimum sentences and allowed them to be served concurrently.
Lavelle said he will appeal the conviction and sentence.
bjackson@vindy.com