Appeals court hears arguments in Agee case

October 23, 2013 at 7:30p.m.

Lawyer: Merge two charges into one

YOUNGSTOWN

Kevin Agee’s name was barely mentioned Wednesday as his appeal was being argued before the 7th District Court of Appeals for a conviction on murder and other charges in the 2010 mistaken-identity shooting of an elderly South Side man.

Instead Ken Spiert, the lawyer for Agee, 28, said his convictions for felonious assault and attempted murder for the shooting of Jacqueline Repchic, who was 74 when she was wounded in a shooting that killed her husband, Thomas, also 74, should be merged into one.

Spiert said Agee should be held accountable only for a single crime involving Jacqueline Repchic’s wounds because evidence showed that the man authorities say pulled the trigger, Aubrey Toney, had only one intent, and that was to kill the two people he saw in a car driving on Southern Boulevard near East Philadelphia Avenue on Sept. 25, 2010.

Police said Toney was looking for a man he had been feuding with and that person drove a car similar to the one the Repchics were in. Jacqueline was hit with two rounds in the feet.

Agee was tried and sentenced to almost 40 years in prison in May 2012 for the counts of murder, attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault. Toney’s trial is set for Jan. 13.

The three-judge panel hearing the case is Judge Cheryl Waite, Judge Joseph Vukovich and Judge Gene Donofrio.

Spiert focused the majority of his argument on the charges other than murder, saying that Agee should have the attempted-murder and felonious-assault charges merged into one, because it was clear from Toney’s actions that he had one intent, and that was to kill the two people in the car.

He said the evidence in the case backs this up. He said seven rounds from a high- powered rifle were fired at the car in a 4.8-second burst, which showed clear intent on Toney’s part to kill both people inside the car.

“Our argument is every one of those shots was an attempt to murder,” Spiert said.