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Man gets more than 12 years for May attack
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Terrence Parker said just before he was sentenced to 121/2 years in prison that witnesses against him in a brief trial all lied.
Passing up a plea bargain where he was looking at substantially less prison time, Parker, of Canton Street, rolled the dice and was convicted by a jury before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum on Wednesday of two counts of robbery and single counts each of intimidation of a witness, menacing by stalking and disrupting public services.
Jurors did find him not guilty on two counts of felonious assault and a single count of aggravated robbery for a May 5 domestic dispute at a Cook Avenue home in Boardman.
Parker maintained his innocence Thursday.
“I would’ve took it [plea deal] if I knew this would be the outcome,” Parker said. He asked the judge to help him, saying he was innocent.
“I remain innocent, your honor,” Parker said.
He claimed that witnesses against him lied before jurors.
“Half the testimony you heard was untrue,” Parker said.
Jurors were selected Tuesday morning and began hearing testimony that day before hearing summations Wednesday morning and reaching their verdicts in the afternoon.
Parker served a seven-year prison sentence in 2003 handed down by Judge Krichbaum on charges of attempted murder and felonious assault with a firearm specification.
He told the judge prison changed him.
“I was 17 the last time,” Parker said.
Judge Krichbaum, however, said he found no evidence of that. Judge Krichbaum said two witnesses who testified clearly were afraid of Parker as was another witness who refused to testify because of Parker’s reputation for violence.
“That’s who you are,” Judge Krichbaum said.
Assistant Prosecutor Natasha Natale said that during the dispute, Hall took money and a phone from a woman.