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Sentenced in shooting, wife swears off guns
CANFIELD
A North Lima woman who accidentally shot her husband said she will never touch another gun again.
Donna Bricker pleaded no contest Tuesday to one count of domestic violence in Mahoning County Area Court after reports said she shot her husband in the leg during an argument.
“It’s something I close my eyes about and think about every night,” Donna Bricker, 76, of Lynn Road, said at her court hearing.
Judge Scott D. Hunter found her guilty, suspended a 180-day jail sentence, fined her $250, placed her on two years’ probation, and ordered her to continue counseling at Turning Point Counseling. She also is no longer allowed to own or possess a firearm.
The judge could send her to jail if she violates any terms of her probation.
On July 20, Donna Bricker shot her husband, Dale Bricker, 83, a prominent local lawyer, in the leg with a .38-caliber revolver in their home.
Dale Bricker, recently honored by the Mahoning County Bar Association for 55 years as a lawyer, was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
Donna Bricker said her husband is recovering and is back to work at his office in 100 DeBartolo Place, Boardman.
Reports said the couple was arguing over the care of their dog, who is unfriendly to strangers, and taking it to a kennel.
“It was an accident,” Donna Bricker said. “I went to shoot the handle of the door and I guess I had too much of a grip [on the gun].”
Once she knew she shot her husband, Donna Bricker said her nurse instincts kicked in, and she rushed to his aid to stop the bleeding, traumatized by what she had just done.
The sole reason she and her husband got the gun was for the purposes of traveling at night, she said.
“It was so we wouldn’t be victims,” Donna Bricker said.
She said she never would have imagined the mess the gun would cause.
“I never want to see another gun in my life,” Donna Bricker said.
Her lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, said the incident was isolated to the Bricker family, was unfortunate and is now over.