Final pretrial hearing set in shooting

By Peter H. Milliken, David Skolnick, D.A. Wilkinson, Linda Linonis, Greg Gulas, Don Shilling, Jordan Cohen | April 26, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — The man charged with shooting an Austintown police officer will have his final pretrial hearing at 10:30 a.m. May 30, at which time a trial date will be set, if needed.

Carlton W. Sims, 23, of Boardman appeared for a status hearing Friday before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Sims is charged with attempted murder and felonious assault in a May 8, 2007, attack on Patrolman Joe Wojciak.

Sims has undergone evaluations that have found him sane at the time of the crime and competent to stand trial.

The police officer was saved from serious physical harm by the bulletproof vest he was wearing when he was shot in the chest with a .22-caliber handgun as he sat in a cruiser at 7 a.m. in the Kmart parking lot on Mahoning Avenue.