Warren man sent to prison for 13 years

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — A 24-year-old city man convicted by a jury of rape, felonious assault and two other felonies has been sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Ryan Morris, of East Market Street, received his sentence Tuesday from Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. He was convicted Sept. 5.

Morris was participating in a dice game at a party in the Country Club Manor Apartments on East Market Street on March 21, 2008, and tried to rob some of the dice players with a gun.

In a scuffle, the gun dropped and broke, but Morris still used it to threaten a woman and force her into a bedroom, where he raped her, said Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor.

Morris, who has hepatitis, also was convicted of assault on a police officer for spitting on two Warren police officers while he was in a cruiser. Becker said he’s not aware that the spitting caused any illness for either officer.

Morris also was convicted of having possession of a firearm after being convicted of a misdemeanor drug conviction that prevented him from being allowed to possess one.

Becker had asked the court to sentence Morris to 26 1‚Ñ2 years in prison.