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Youngstown man convicted in 2011 shooting
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court took less than two hours Wednesday to convict a man on seven charges related to a 2011 shooting.
Kevin Wright, 28, of Bauker Street, was convicted of five counts of felonious assault and two counts of discharging a firearm into a habitation for a Feb. 1, 2011, shooting. The case was not indicted until 2013.
He faces a possible sentence of at least 59 years in prison. Sentencing will take place before Judge Maureen Sweeney after a pre-sentence investigation is completed.
The victim, Jonathan Simmons, said he was looking for his wife about 5:30 a.m. when someone fired several shots at his car, in which were four of his children. The children were not injured.
The victim claimed he was shot in the thigh and grazed in the face and chest by bullets.
One of the reasons the case took so long to indict was that the man’s wife did not tell police what she saw until about a year later.
Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said the wife did not come forward because she was scared about what would happen to her if she did.
“She knows what happens when people talk,” Andrews said.
Andrews said police recovered about 20 shell casings from the scene of the shooting that came from an automatic rifle, and two houses also were damaged by gunfire.
Defense counsel Mark Lavelle told the jurors there are no records anywhere that the victim sought treatment for a gunshot wound, and there is no evidence that his children were in the car with him when it was fired on.
He also said investigators never questioned the children about what they had seen that day or asked the children if they were there when the shots were fired.
Lavelle also said that police thought they found blood on one of the seats in Jonathan Simmons’ car, but they never tested it.
As Lavelle gave his argument, Jonathan Simmons was shaking his head and laughing.
“Not one soul, not one credible witness, not one single piece of evidence suggests Jonathan Simmons was hit,” Lavelle said.
Andrews said the defense made an issue during the trial of someone having their kids out so early in the morning.
Andrews said that was not the point and the defense was just looking for something to distract the jury.
“You shouldn’t have to worry if your kids are in the car, at five o’clock in the morning, if they’re going to get shot,” Andrews said.