Mahoning common pleas judge denies plea-withdrawal motion

YOUNGSTOWN

A man who ran from his sentencing hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in June and was loose for about six months had a motion to withdraw his Alford plea to a charge of felonious assault denied today.

However, the sentencing for 36-year-old Richard Labooth will be delayed until a presentence investigation is completed, Judge Lou D’Apolito told him.

Labooth was to be sentenced June 9 for the charge and was out on bail for treatment of gunshot wounds to his leg he sustained in a Dec. 12, 2012, shooting at a Lora Avenue home where another man was wounded. Labooth was charged with felonious assault in that case and entered an Alford Plea, which means he maintains his innocence but admits there is enough evidence for a jury to find him guilty.

Labooth left the courtroom during a break in his sentencing hearing in June and was not caught until December.

At the time of his sentencing prosecutors were recommending a sentence of five years but because Labooth left in the middle of his hearing, that agreement is no longer valid.