Judge recesses court so defendant can apologize

YOUNGSTOWN — How hard is it to say “I’m sorry?”

For Jayquawn Manigault, a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge had to recess a sentencing hearing today so he could figure out how to say it.

The 23-year-old Manigault, who was being sentenced for breaking into a home and taking a television in 2014 and having a gun during a bank robbery on Market Street in 2015, conferred with his lawyer Rhys Cartwright-Jones for several minutes during the recess before Judge Shirley J. Christian came back on the bench.

Cartwright-Jones wanted sentences in both cases to run concurrent to a 100-month federal prison sentence for the same bank robbery for which Manigault was charged with illegally having a firearm. But Judge Christian said she was inclined to agree with assistant Prosecutor Kevin Trapp who said his apologies earlier in court were not sincere, mainly because Manigault talked about himself and his family and not the victims of his crimes.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com