East Side man gets 18 years for shooting cabbie

YOUNGSTOWN — A man who shot a taxi driver in the neck in a January 2005 robbery attempt is going to prison for 18 years.

Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence today on Hubert Floyd Jr., 43, of Bennington Avenue, who had pleaded guilty as charged a day earlier as his trial was about to begin.

Floyd was charged with the nonfatal shooting of cab driver Julio Rivera, 37, of Early Road, on the city’s East Side, after Rivera had picked him up as a passenger. Floyd, who apologized in court, will serve 10 years for attempted murder, five years for aggravated robbery and three years for the gun specification, consecutively for a total of 18 years.

For the complete story, see Wednesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com.