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Youngstown man sentenced to 6 years for shooting
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
A young man who fired three shots into another man in a dispute over a rental car and a small debt is going to prison for six years.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney imposed the sentence Friday on Christopher Lacey, 23, of Idora Avenue, who was convicted by a jury in May of felonious assault with a firearm specification.
Lacey shot Gary Robbins, 46, of Youngstown, at close range in the abdomen, arm and leg, while Robbins sat in a car in a driveway on East Myrtle Avenue near Market Street on Aug. 20, 2009.
Robert J. Andrews, an assistant county prosecutor, said Robbins was hospitalized for more than a month after the shooting and asked the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge to impose on Lacey an 11-year prison term, which would have been the maximum sentence.
The location of Robbins’ wounds put him “an inch or two away from losing his life,” Andrews told the judge.
“I couldn’t believe that I got shot over a rent-a-car. The impact of my physical ailments will be with me for the rest of my life,” Robbins told the judge, adding that his gunshot injuries sometimes make it difficult for him to walk or take a deep breath.
“To have no respect or decency or care about another human being’s life or living —it appalls me,” he added.
After court, Robbins said he was not satisfied with the sentence Judge Sweeney imposed. “He deserved the maximum sentence. ... He tried to kill me,” Robbins said of Lacey. As for the six years imposed, Robbins asked: “What kind of message does that send to a city that is filled with violence?”
Defense lawyer, Anthony P. Meranto, noted that Lacey had never been to prison before and asked the judge to impose less than the maximum sentence. “It is unfortunate that we live in a time and place where young men have guns and use guns so cavalierly,” Meranto said in court.
Lacey, who was indicted on the felonious assault charge on Oct. 29, told the judge he was sorry that the mother of his two sons would have to raise them by herself while he serves his prison time, but Lacey never apologized for shooting Robbins.
Andrews said after court that details of the dispute between Lacey and Robbins that led to the shooting are unclear.
An unusual aspect of the case was that Robbins reported to the prosecution that Lacey had driven him on March 17 to Meranto’s office, where Robbins signed a statement that Lacey did not shoot him.
Noting that Robbins testified he saw a bulge in Lacey’s shirt that appeared to be a gun during that drive, Andrews said he believes Robbins signed that statement under duress.
“I was in fear of my life,” Robbins said after court on Friday.
Robbins’ twin brother, Larry, 39, a former Youngstown Pride professional basketball player, was a homicide victim, shot in the head in an argument over money on March 22, 2003, on Norwood Avenue, Andrews noted.
Gary Robbins testified in the trial that Lacey had shot him on Aug. 20, 2009. “He came out very truthful during the trial, and the jury believed him,” Andrews said of Gary Robbins.
Noting that Lacey never entered the law office after driving Robbins there, Andrews said he does not believe Meranto did anything wrong or knew that anything was improper. “As far as Meranto knew, Robbins was coming in there on his own will,” Andrews said.