Man sentenced for shooting on E. LaClede

YOUNGSTOWN — A South Osborn Avenue man has been sent to prison for 4 1/2 years for shooting and critically wounding a Breaden Street man.

Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence today on Jonathan C. Simmons, 23, after he pleaded guilty to shooting Andre Felder, 31, in the stomach on the porch of a house in the 800 block of East LaClede Avenue on May 21, 2005.

Simmons was indicted on a felonious assault charge with a firearm specification, which, upon conviction, would have put him in prison for five to 11 years. But, in a plea agreement with the prosecution, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault with a firearm specification and got the maximum sentence for the assault (18 months), plus the mandatory consecutive three years for the gun specification. Simmons will get credit for the 856 days he has already been jailed.

The prosecution believes the shooting occurred after Felder told Simmons’ wife he didn’t approve of the way she was disciplining her children and Simmons believed his wife had been disrespected by Felder, said Robert Andrews, assistant county prosecutor.

The sentence is non-appealable because it was agreed to by both the prosecution and defense, Andrews said.