Man to spend 5 years in prison

A jury convicted the defendant last month.

YOUNGSTOWN — A city man with a long criminal record has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of receiving stolen property and fleeing police.

Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence Tuesday on Willie L. Oliver Jr., 37, of Alameda Avenue, for a May 2006 pursuit in which Oliver drove a stolen car. A jury convicted Oliver of the charges last month.

Boardman police briefly pursued the car Oliver was driving from South Avenue and U.S. Route 224 to the U.S. Route 224 and I-680 interchange May 8, 2006, ending the chase to avoid endangering the public, and Youngstown police arrested him the following day on the city’s North Side, said Michael McBride, assistant county prosecutor.

McBride asked the judge to impose the maximum combined sentence of 61⁄2 years because a pre-sentence investigation report showed Oliver has a history of 15 criminal convictions, including four for felonies.

The judge imposed four years for fleeing police and one year for receiving the stolen car. By law, the sentence for fleeing police must be consecutive to the one pertaining to the stolen car, the judge said.

Oliver said his speedy-trial rights were violated. He also asked for a new trial on the grounds that the defense never received gasoline station video showing the car’s occupants and that prosecution witnesses made conflicting statements as to the number of occupants of the car.

The judge reaffirmed that she was overruling defense lawyer Paul Conn’s motion for a new trial. Conn said an appeal will be filed.