COURT Man sentenced to 18 years in 2001 homicide

His cousin will go on trial later this year.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Ceyanie Dubose had little to say before a judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison for the murder of Marcus Bradley in 2001.
His family members, however, expressed their opinions about the trial and verdict Friday outside the courtroom of Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Through her tears, Pearline Dubose, Dubose's mother, said she still couldn't understand how a jury found her son guilty of complicity to murder with a gun specification.
"He didn't have a gun," Mrs. Dubose said. "How could they get him on the gun [charge]?"
Ceyanie's father, Wayne Sutton, said he felt the offenses of murder and complicity to murder should not have been given to the jury to consider during its deliberations.
He said he believed the jury should only have deliberated on the original charge of aggravated murder with a gun specification.
Dubose's girlfriend, Angie McKinney, said, "I felt he was unjustly accused." McKinney had testified that Dubose was with her the night before the shooting in her Liberty apartment and stayed there until 6 a.m. Nov. 12. Police had speculated Bradley was shot about 1 or 2 a.m. Nov. 12.
Legal proceedings
A jury deliberated less than two hours Thursday before finding Dubose guilty of the complicity charge and firearm specification.
The jurors did find him innocent of aggravated murder with a firearm specification and innocent of the lesser-included offense of murder with a firearm specification.
He was convicted of participating in the shooting death of Marcus Bradley, 18, also known as Marcus Moore on Nov. 12, 2001. Bradley's body was found by city police that day on Mercer Avenue and Hoffman Street on the city's South Side. He had been shot three times in the head.
Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said before sentencing that his office takes no joy in prosecuting young men like Dubose.
"He appears to be an intelligent young man, but he ruined his life, Bradley's life, and the lives of his family," Gains said.
Standing between his lawyers Douglas B. Taylor and Ronald E. Knickerbocker, Dubose displayed no emotion before Judge Evans pronounced sentence.
The judge asked him if he had anything to say. Dubose then uttered the only words he said in court during his two-day trial, which began Tuesday.
"No sir," Dubose said.
'Tragedy'
Judge Evans then sentenced Dubose to 15 years to life imprisonment on the complicity to murder charge and an additional three years in prison on the firearm specification.
By law, those sentences are to be served consecutively, and the firearm specification penalty must be served before the time on the larger sentence begins.
Judge Evans said to Dubose, "This proceeding certainly indicates to the court that this is a tragedy -- a tragedy for you, for the victim and for this city."
Taylor said he would file the necessary papers to appeal the verdict.
Dubose will be given credit for time served in the county jail awaiting trial. He had been in the jail since June 2003 when police arrested him and his cousin Edward L. Dubose, 23, of Albert Street.
Edward Dubose is scheduled to go on trial later this year on aggravated murder and firearm specifications charges.
Gains said Ceyanie Dubose would be eligible for parole after serving about 16 years in prison.