A tearful Etheridge pleads guilty to home invasion charges

YOUNGSTOWN — A man accused of a 2012 home invasion on the South Side tearfully offered guilty pleas today in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to charges of aggravated burglary and felonious assault with firearm specifications.

Attorneys are recommending a sentence of seven years for 24-year-old Tarell Etheridge of East Avondale Avenue.

He and another man are accused of bursting into a Mabel Avenue home and wounding a woman with a shotgun while looking for an informant in a drug case.

The man who was with Etheridge that night has never been identified.

One of Etheridge's attorneys, Mark Lavelle, told Judge Shirley J. Christian his client maintains his innocence, but realizes there is enough evidence to convict him if the case goes to trial.