Judge: ‘Assassin too good a word for you’

By Harold Gwin

The judge said the victim was shot numerous times in an effort to make sure that he died.

YOUNGSTOWN — “Assassin is probably too good a word for you,” Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court told Robert Armstrong just before ordering Armstrong to spend the next 13 years in prison.

Armstrong, 26, of North Hazelwood Avenue, was convicted earlier this month on a charge of attempted murder with a gun specification. Authorities said he shot Eric Weaver nine times in Weaver’s Campbell home June 23. Weaver survived but faces a long recovery and must use a wheelchair. He was able to tell police that Armstrong shot him.

A motive for the shooting never has been determined.

Just before Thursday’s sentencing, Armstrong said he is innocent in this case. He filed an appeal of his conviction shortly after sentencing.

Robert E. Bush Jr., the county’s chief criminal prosecutor, recommended the maximum 10-year sentence for Armstrong on the attempted-murder charge and the mandatory three years for the gun specification.

“I can’t imagine anything more vicious and vile, more reprehensible,” Krichbaum said, adding that he couldn’t be any more certain that the jury reached the appropriate verdict in the case. The evidence was overwhelming, he said. The victim was shot over and over and over in an attempt to make sure he was dead, he said.

“This is beyond outrageous,” the judge said.

He ordered Armstrong to first serve the three-year mandatory gun-specification sentence followed by 10 years on the attempted- murder charge, giving him credit for the 168 days he has been in custody since his arrest.

He faces five years of parole after his release from prison.

Weaver didn’t attend the sentencing. He wasn’t feeling well, said his mother, Sonya Murray, who said her son’s condition has improved but that he will face life-long health issues related to the shooting.

Vince Murray, Weaver’s stepfather, asked the court to impose the maximum sentence.

“I have to forgive this man for what’s he’s done, so that doesn’t continue to haunt my family,” he said. “I can’t allow this to turn into anger or anything else.”

Murray, who said he heard the gunshots that hit Weaver from his home a few doors away, said his family has been suffering for 51‚Ñ2 months and that suffering will continue.

He said he watched his stepson fight for life, noting that health-care workers had to resuscitate Weaver twice before he was stabilized.

He later told The Vindicator that Armstrong and his stepson had been friends at one time.

gwin@vindy.com