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Guns and drugs yield 4 1/2-year prison term
YOUNGSTOWN
A 43-year-old Idora Avenue man has been sentenced to 41/2 years in prison on gun and drug charges.
Shun Moreland drew the sentence Monday from Judge Shirley J. Christian of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The sentence will be concurrent with an 18-month prison term Judge Christian imposed on him in June after a jury convicted him of cocaine possession in a separate case.
The sentence stemmed from Moreland’s conviction by a jury last week on three counts of being a felon with a gun and two counts of cocaine possession.
The charges arose from execution of a search warrant Jan. 13 at his residence, where city police found the guns and cocaine.
Moreland was convicted Wednesday of having a .45-caliber assault rifle and .40-caliber and 9 mm handguns after a 2012 aggravated-assault conviction.
Saying the cocaine and guns were deadly, Kevin Trapp, an assistant county prosecutor, recommended an eight-year prison term.
Michael Gollings, the defense lawyer, however, asked the judge to consider a lesser sentence, saying his client suffers from untreated long-term drug addiction.
Judge Christian said she agreed with the prosecution concerning the deadliness of the cocaine and guns.
“There isn’t any legitimate reason to be owning an assault rifle,” she added.
The judge said she also agreed with the defense that Moreland has “an obvious drug problem” of a few years’ duration that hasn’t been treated.
She added, however, that Moreland can’t be treated until he acknowledges that problem, which he hasn’t done.
She also cited Moreland’s “lack of remorse.”
Moreland did not address the judge, and Gollings said he wasn’t sure if there would be an appeal.