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Agee, convicted of murder, avoids death penalty
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Agee
YOUNGSTOWN
Kevin Agee will not be put to death for the murder of 74-year-old Thomas Repchic and the wounding of his wife, Jaqueline Repchic, but he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
A jury of seven men and five women spent about three hours Tuesday deliberating the capital-murder charges against Agee, 26, and an additional hour and 15 minutes in deliberations Wednesday morning before reaching a verdict on most of the charges.
The jury did not reach a verdict on the aggravated-murder charge that could have sent Agee to death row. They did find him guilty of murder, attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault, as well as all the firearm specifications that accompany those charges.
Dawn Cantalamessa, an assistant county prosecutor, said Agee could face a maximum sentence of 28 years to life when he is sentenced. There has been no date set for the sentencing.
Agee is charged in the Sept. 25, 2010, shooting death of Thomas Repchic and the wounding of Mrs. Repchic, who also was 74 at the time, on the city’s South Side. Mrs. Repchic lost her leg as a result of the shooting.
Police said the shooting was a case of mistaken identity. They allege Agee and his 30-year-old co-defendant, Aubrey Toney, were looking to shoot two other men who drove a car similar to the Repchics’.
Toney is set to go on trial in October. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Agee, wearing a black suit and white shirt, sat motionless and showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were read by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Several people supporting Agee, including his mother, sat in the audience but also showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were read.
There were several members of the Repchic family in the courtroom when the verdict was announced, but they declined to speak with reporters and said nothing after hearing what the jury had determined.
Agee, through his attorneys Rhys Cartwright-Jones and James Gentile, had maintained that he was not guilty in the shooting but merely a witness to the actions of Toney, who is believed to have been the triggerman.
Cantalamessa said it is obvious that the members of the jury did not believe Agee did not know there was going to be a shooting.
“I think the jury took their time and reviewed the evidence,” she said. “They were told that if they could not reach a verdict on aggravated murder to move onto murder. ... They still found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is still murder, and we are satisfied that he is guilty and there will be punishment.”
The jurors refused to discuss the case with reporters after the verdict.
Cartwright-Jones only said the jury did its duty in the matter.
“I believe it was a thoughtfully tried case on both sides, and the jury did very careful deliberations,” he said.