Man gets prison for role in attack on deliveryman
The victim's brother participated in the assault.
SALEM -- An East Palestine man apologized for an attack on a pizza deliveryman, but authorities criticized his action as "a senseless act of violence."
Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court sentenced Joshua Courtney, 20, of Jimtown Road, to prison on a charge of robbery for his role in the Nov. 16, 2005, assault.
Courtney will spend two years behind bars with credit for 186 days he has spent in the county jail since the attack, the judge said Monday.
Courtney was one of three people who lured Kent Brewer, a deliveryman for Pizza Hunt, to a Salem home where the occupants were not home.
Court records state that when Brewer showed up, he was lured to the back of the house, hit on the head, knocked to the ground and kicked. Brewer sustained facial fractures and a broken nose.
Quotable
Tammy Riley Jones, an assistant county prosecutor, called it "a rather senseless act of violence."
Riley Jones said Brewer had done nothing to warrant the attack. She added that the trio discussed and planned the attack that netted about $40 to obtain more drugs.
Before sentencing, Courtney apologized to the court, and added, "If Mr. Brewer was here, I'd apologize to him."
Courtney has no other criminal record.
"This was a totally unprovoked attack," Judge Pike said. "There's just no reason for this to happen."
Last month, Brewer's brother, Nathaniel, 19, of West Fourth Street, Salem, drew a two-year prison term for his role in the assault.
A youth, then 16, was charged in county juvenile court with robbery for his involvement. He was initially placed on intensive supervised probation that has been reduced to regular probation. Authorities said the youth had the smallest role in the crime.