COURT Judge grants probation request

The defendant also must do 500 hours of community service.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Gary Davis of Austintown is now on three years' probation after serving just nine months of a three-year sentence for running over and killing a woman nearly three years ago.
At a hearing Tuesday, Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court put Davis, 46, formerly of Cannon Road, on probation with several stipulations.
The judge ruled that Davis must attend Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and must do 500 hours of community service for programs such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students Against Driving Drunk.
Further, Judge Sweeney said Davis must complete and pay the costs for a 60-day treatment program through the Community Corrections Association on Market Street.
The judge said that if Davis violates any part of his probation, she would send him back to prison to finish his sentence.
What happened
Davis' vehicle struck and killed Cheryl A. Rockney, 49, of Kenmore Court, Austintown, as she walked on the sidewalk in the 1200 block of Oak Street about midnight Aug. 22, 2002. Information supplied by witnesses led police to Davis' home shortly after the accident.
Visiting Judge Charles J. Bannon sentenced Davis to three years in prison in July 2004 for aggravated vehicular homicide, to which Davis had pleaded guilty May 12 of that year.
Judge Bannon also suspended Davis' driver's license for five years, but stipulated in his sentence that if Davis was a model prisoner, he would consider placing him on judicial release, formerly called shock probation.
Judge Sweeney was assigned the case for further hearings.
Plea before the judge
Atty. George Economus, who represented Davis, and Davis' father, Robert W. Davis, made a plea before the judge for probation.
Economus said the accident had had a severe effect on the Davis and Rockney families. Davis, however, had been a model prisoner and has no prior criminal record, the attorney added.
Robert Davis said his son is needed at home to care for three of his children and to help out with the family business, the Daugherty-Davis Co., a tobacco store on Front Street in downtown Youngstown.
Gary Davis told the court he was "very sorry about what happened."
Rockney's sister and daughter, however, urged the judge to keep Davis behind bars.
"I am still bitter that my sister was taken away," said Gwendolyn Rockney Diehl, choking back tears. "He only did nine months. My elderly parents have suffered, and my sister will never see her grandkids."
Keri Rockney, the victim's daughter, added in her statement, "I will never get to see my mother again. He will get a chance to see his parents and children. How can someone get out in nine months on good behavior?"
Judge Sweeney said she must follow the stipulations of the original sentencing court, which included putting Davis on probation.