Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
A three-judge panel of the 7th District Court of Appeals has unanimously reversed the conviction of a defendant in the Dec. 27, 2009, armed robbery of a Wick Avenue pizza shop, saying the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict against him.
In its Thursday ruling, the appeals court said there was no evidence that Jeffrey Shorter drove the getaway car used in the robbery.
The appeals court dismissed the charges against Shorter, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison by Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Shorter, 45, of Orange Avenue, was the passenger in the car driven by Stanley Croom when a police officer stopped it on McGuffey Road at least 48 minutes after the robbery, the appeals court noted.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court unanimously upheld the aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated murder convictions of Croom, who was identified by a Belleria Pizza employee as the robber.
Croom, 48, of Plazaview Court, is serving 30 years at the Lorain Correctional Institution on charges stemming from the robbery.