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David Bailes gets 10 years in prison in motorcycle club shooting
WARREN — David Bailes will spend 10 years in prison for being the primary shooter who killed two rival motorcycle club members and injured two others at a Warren Township tavern in 2016.
He received the sentence from Judge Andrew Logan, who said he understood there would be a lot of people unhappy with that sentence, but it was reached in a plea agreement because of "complications in the case."
It was a surprise sentence because a co-defendant in the case agreed to a sentence of 15 to 20 years.
Bailes, 46, pleaded guilty Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of felonious assault in the shooting deaths of Robert Marto, 54, of Cortland, and Jason Moore, 41, of Bristolville on June 18, 2016, outside of the Shorty's Place tavern on Highland Avenue.
Bailes was the president of Forever Two Wheelz motorcycle club of Warren, and Marto was president of the Brothers Regime club. Moore and two other men were injured in the gun fight – Andrew Claypool, 50, of Girard and Walter Hughes, 41, of Warren – were also members of the Brothers Regime.
Two relatives of Bailes – his stepfather, James A. Gardner, 49, of Warren, and his first cousin, Charles C. Delapenna III, 48, of Warren, will also go to prison for their role in the shootings.
Both pleaded guilty earlier to two counts of complicity to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of complicity to felonious assault and agreed to testify at Bailes trial, which would have started Monday if Bailes had not taken a plea instead.
The shootings followed a conflict that developed between the two clubs as Forever Two Wheelz was preparing for a motorcycle fundraiser it was having that day.
Bailes was also seriously injured by gunfire that day. During most of his hearings, he has come to court in a wheelchair.