COMMON PLEAS COURT Man sentenced for trying to give inmate illegal drugs

The defendant says he plans to appeal.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A 46-year-old man, convicted of attempting to throw illegal drugs over the barbed wire fence at Trumbull Correctional Institution, has been sentenced to 17 months in prison.
Paul Leroy Brown was sentenced Tuesday during a brief hearing in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Brown, who represented himself during the trial, told the judge that he is planning to appeal.
Brown was convicted last month of one count of illegal conveyance of a prohibited item onto the grounds of a detention facility or institution. Brown was convicted after the jury deliberated about 90 minutes.
Brown could have received up to 18 months in prison, said Chris Becker, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor who tried the case.
Returned to grounds
Five months after being released from Trumbull Correctional Institution, Brown returned to the prison grounds in January in an attempt to give another inmate illegal drugs, Becker said.
Brown tried to throw cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana over the fence surrounding the prison, Becker said.
Brown had been released from prison in August 2003 after serving 13 years for receiving stolen property.
The charge was filed by Warren police after they investigated the Oct. 12, 1989, strangulation of Brown's cousin Rebecca Sims, 45, of Highland Avenue, Warren. She was found on her couch, strangled with a telephone cord, and her ring was missing.
Brown was not charged with murder. He was convicted in February 1990 of possessing Sims' ring. Police said he tried to pawn the $892 ring at a local shop.
Brown also was imprisoned from February 1975 until being paroled in July 1989 after he was convicted in the Dec. 12, 1974, shooting and robbery of Cleveland Beasley, 63, of Palmyra Road Southwest. He had been sentenced to 15 years to life.
sinkovich@vindy.com