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Man who took back plea has sentenced doubled after murder conviction
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The mother of a man who was killed in an April 2012 shooting Monday told the man convicted of killing him that he is also a taker.
Jo Ann Mitzler told Kyle Patrick, 22, in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that he took several things besides the life of her son, Michael Abighanem, 27.
“You took it all away,” Mitzler said. “He was planning on getting married. You took it all away. He was so proud of his children and a great dad. You took that all away.”
Patrick, who had pleaded guilty in 2014 and was sentenced to 16 years in prison, only to file an appeal to withdraw his appeal and have it vacated, was sentenced to 33 years to life in prison by Judge John Durkin after he was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence by a jury last week after a three-day trial.
Prosecutors said Abighanem and a friend visited a Silliman Street home April 27, 2012, to sell a laptop and video-game system there. Abighanem was going to use the money to buy birthday gifts for his children and pay other expenses. He went to an upstairs bedroom where prosecutors said Patrick was waiting in a closet with a gun, and another man was in the bedroom when a struggle broke out and Abighanem was shot. He died at the scene.
Patrick declined to speak before his sentencing but his attorney, Mark Lavelle, said his client is adamant he did not pull the trigger. Lavelle said he tried to explain to Patrick that the plea he turned down was a good deal because of the evidence against him, but Patrick believed a jury would find him not guilty, Lavelle said.
Patrick’s mother, Jonnie Wright, made a statement to the judge and said while her son should not have been there and deserved to be punished, he was not guilty of murder. She said witnesses, prosecutors and police conspired against her son, who was just 17 when the crime was committed and that her son was lured into a bad crowd because he wanted to live the life of a gangster.
“Kyle is not a monster,” Wright said.
The fiancee of Abighanem, Amber Gutierrez, told the judge Abighanem was a fantastic father to her two children and both children still have a hard time understanding why their father is dead.
“I hurt for them more than I hurt for myself,” Gutierrez told the judge.
Judge Durkin said he had a hard time thinking of a murder case before him that was more senseless. He said the fact that Patrick was there and took part in the planning for the robbery makes him guilty of Abighanem’s death.
“As an aider and abetter, you are guilty as if you pulled the trigger,” Judge Durkin said.