Probation in Dome beating death

WARREN — David A. Riehl Jr., one of three Girard men involved in the beating death of Kevin Elza of Bristolville, was sentenced Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Elza was found in the parking lot of the Creekside Golf Dome in Girard on Nov. 6, 2005, bloody and breathing shallowly. He was pronounced dead later at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown.

Riehl, 20, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of inciting to violence.

He received two years of probation, a suspended six-month jail sentence and 30 days of electronic house arrest.

An investigator has said it appeared that Elza and a friend emerged from the golf dome at around 2:30 a.m. and one of them went to the wrong car.

About the same time, a group of people came out of the dome, words were exchanged and Elza was punched, collapsing to the pavement.

Another man, Brian J Charles, 22, was sentenced earlier to six months of probation in connection with the episode. His charge was the same as Riehl's.

A third man, Roberto B. Dubelt, 22, was sentenced to 25 weeks in jail and two years of probation after pleading guilty to assault.

Riehl was also ordered to pay a $500 fine, stay away from drugs and alcohol and out of bars, and to stay away from Dubelt and Charles.