Man to serve five years for murder

The defendant could have been
sentenced to up to 21 years behind bars.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A Hudson Avenue man’s cooperation with authorities contributed to his sentence of five years in prison for killing one man and injuring another.

Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Wade Shaw, 32, on Monday.

Shaw pleaded guilty and was convicted earlier this month of involuntary manslaughter in the December 2002 beating death of Archie Stanford, 44, of Parkwood Avenue.

Mill Creek Park Police on routine patrol found Stanford’s body in the park’s lower Bears Den parking lot.

Shaw also pleaded guilty and was convicted of felonious assault with a firearm specification in the October 2003 shooting of Rasheid Brown, which occurred on Glenwood Avenue. Brown survived.

Before the plea agreement, Shaw had been charged with aggravated murder in Stanford’s death and with attempted murder in the Brown shooting.

The sentencing

The judge sentenced Shaw to two years on the felonious assault charge with an additional three years for the gun specification. She sentenced him to two years on the involuntary manslaughter conviction to be served concurrently with the other charges.

Shaw will be given credit for time served in the Mahoning County Justice Center where he’s been since Dec. 12, 2003.

Shaw could have been sentenced to as many as 21 years behind bars.

Robert Andrews, assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, and Atty. Thomas E. Zena, who represents Shaw, agreed to the sentence.

“This is based on the defendant’s cooperation in other matters?” the judge asked.

“That’s correct,” Andrews said.

After Monday’s hearing, Andrews said that the case involving Stanford’s death remains under investigation, but he declined to provide specifics.

Brown and family members of Stanford both were notified of the sentencing date but did not attend.

Shaw declined to make a statement to the court.