2 men's fight over tricycle leaves Mahoning judge flummoxed

YOUNGSTOWN

You can perhaps call Thursday’s sentencing of George Buchanan in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to four years in prison “The Case of the Cursed Tricycle.”

Buchanan was sentenced on a charge of felonious assault with a firearms specification for wounding a man in September during an argument over a tricycle. The shooting, however, did not appear to end the matter.

The victim said he wants his tricycle back from Buchanan, 47, but Buchanan claims it is his because he paid for it.

No one seems to know where the tricycle is.

Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta called it a “cursed tricycle.” Veteran defense attorney James Gentile broke one of the cardinal rules of defense work and criticized the victim, and Judge Anthony D’Apolito said he was more confused about the case after he heard the victim, Anthony Rogers, and Buchanan speak before sentencing.

“I think I understand less now than I did before,” Judge D’Apolito said.

Read more about the case in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.