43
Inmate agrees to add time to his sentence
YOUNGSTOWN — An inmate at the Ohio State Penitentiary here has signed a plea agreement with the state lengthening his prison term by 10 years.
Steven W. Culp Jr., 31, appeared earlier this week before Judge Lou D’Apolito of Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas for arraignment, when he entered into the plea agreement with prosecutors.
Culp was charged with possession of a deadly weapon under detention and three counts of felonious assault on corrections officers with repeat-violent-offender specifications.
Prosecutors contend Culp was in possession of a knife and used that knife to assault three corrections officers.
Under the plea agreement, Culp pleaded guilty to possession of a deadly weapon under detention and three counts of felonious assault. He could face up to 48 years in prison on the new charges and fines up to $75,000.
Prosecutors have recommended eight years on the charge of possession of a deadly weapon to run concurrently with the recommended 10-year sentence for the felonious-assault charges.
That time on the new charges will run consecutively to the prison term Culp is already serving. Judge D’Apolito will sentence Culp on Jan. 6.
Culp is serving an 18-year prison term for aggravated robbery, kidnapping and theft. The earliest date for his release before the additional time for the new charges would have been Nov. 9, 2017.
Culp is one of seven inmates who were indicted in May by the county grand jury on new felony charges that they assaulted corrections officers or others or possessed deadly weapons under detention at the state penitentiary.