Caviness gets 25 years in Niles bar shooting

WARREN — Robin Caviness will go to prison 25 years for shooting a man behind a Niles bar.

Surveillance video of the area behind Madden's Bar on Youngstown Road in Niles showed Caviness, 39, shooting Clayton Bender, 23, June 11, but his attorney says Caviness didn't even know he did the crime until he saw the video himself.

Caviness, accepted a plea agreement today in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court instead of going to trial and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, three counts of felonious assault, and one of illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor-permit premises and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Cavjness was indicted on five charges, including murder, which could have landed him in prison for life with parole eligibility after 15 years, but that charge was reduced in his plea agreement.