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Myers gets six year sentence for attack on wife
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge Wednesday rejected a request from a defense lawyer to give his client a three-year sentence for a firearm specification on charges stemming from an attack on his wife, saying that the crime was too violent to ignore the other charges.
Judge Shirley J. Christian said she agreed that Brian Myers, 27, deserved the six-year sentence prosecutors were recommending on charges of kidnapping, felonious assault and child endangering even though he was remorseful because of the nature of his crimes.
“I can’t overlook the violent nature of the crimes you committed,” Judge Christian said.
Myers pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 16 for the Sept. 28, 2013, incident at his Parkway Street home in Struthers.
Police said Myers was enraged after he claimed his wife had filled out a tax form the wrong way, and he picked up a small dog and threw it across the room. After his wife yelled at him for throwing the dog, police said he got a rifle and shotgun from another room, forced his wife to get on her knees and hit her with the weapons and threatened to kill her.
He used the rifle to fire several shots near her head. Behind his wife their 10-month-old child was sleeping in a crib but the baby was not harmed. The wife managed to escape, and Myers took the baby to a home in Boardman where his parents live and where he was arrested.
Prosecutors were recommending a mandatory three-year sentence on the firearm specifications and an additional three years on the other charges to run consecutively for a total of six years.
Defense attorney Michael Gallings said his client has no prior criminal record and a risk assessment on a presentence investigation of him re-offending was one of the lowest he had ever seen. He said he knew his client would go to prison and deserved to be punished, but he asked that he receive only the three-year sentence for the firearm specifications, noting that his client already has spent 444 days in jail.
Myers also apologized, saying that he loved his wife and thought he would spend the rest of his life with her. He also said he loves his daughter and wants to be a good father for her.
He said he has learned since he was in jail that it was OK to ask for help and when Judge Christian asked him what kind of help he needed, he said he needed help to handle anger, stress and anxiety. He said if he had asked for help before he went to jail, the incident would have never happened.
“If I knew how to ask for help a long time ago, I wouldn’t be in this situation,” Myers said.
Myers also said he was prepared for whatever punishment he was to receive, and he accepted responsibility for his actions.