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Man gets 2015 burglary case continued as he is about to be sentenced
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Christopher Seals was set Thursday to receive six years or less in prison as he was to be sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on a pair of burglary charges dating back to 2015.
Seals, however, said he did not get along with his lawyer and asked Judge Anthony D’Apolito to withdraw his guilty pleas and hire a new lawyer, even though he was arraigned two days ago on a fresh set of charges and had to have the court appoint a lawyer for him because he claimed he had no money.
Judge D’Apolito instead gave Seals a week to confer with another lawyer and decide if he wanted to withdraw his plea, although Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta said if the plea was withdrawn, the state would seek a higher sentence at the next sentencing date.
Brevetta said Seals is charged with a pair of burglaries in Jackson Township in 2015. Those charges carry a maximum sentence of eight years each in prison.
Seals told the judge he understood the offer the prosecution made – which he accepted in August 2015 when Judge Shirley Christian was on the bench – would be out the window if he withdrew his plea.
Mark Lavelle, Seals’ attorney, told the court Seals wanted to get rid of him because Seals believed the case was going to be dismissed. Lavelle said he knew of no such arrangement but said Seals insisted that was true.
“I think it’s a huge mistake,” Lavelle said about Seals’ withdrawing his plea. “But it’s his mistake to make.”
Judge D’Apolito said he was skeptical of the request because it came on the day of sentencing, but he added he wanted to err on the side of caution to make sure Seals’ rights are protected.
“The danger is when you take steps like this, the court is tempted to conclude that you want to follow the rules as you go rather than adhere to the rules you agreed to two years ago,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Court records show Seals was sentenced to a year in prison in October 2015 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on a charge of receiving stolen property. He also served a year in prison in 2009, serving concurrent sentences from Mahoning and Trumbull counties, records show. The sentencing was rescheduled in Mahoning County in 2016 and later continued but court records do not say why.
On Sept. 8, a Mahoning County grand jury indicted Seals on charges of breaking and entering, theft, vandalism, two counts or receiving stolen property, two counts of forgery and misuse of a credit card for a series of incidents in June in Austintown and Jackson Township.
When asked who his lawyer was in that case, Seals said he had a lawyer but the lawyer did not appear at his arraignment Tuesday, so a lawyer was appointed for him. He is now free on bond in that case.
Court records show Jamie Dunn, who is listed as his attorney in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown on the charges before they were bound over to the grand jury, is his attorney for those cases now at the common pleas court level.
Judge D’Apolito said he would allow Lavelle to continue on the case if Seals changes his mind. A new court date has been set for Oct. 6.
“I can’t stop a defendant from making what I perceive to be bad choices,” Judge D’Apolito said.