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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Walmart robber pleads out; alleged accomplice to go to trial
DAYTON — One of the two men accused of robbing and shooting a 28-year-old woman at a Moraine Walmart Supercenter pleaded guilty Friday, July 24, to complicity to commit aggravated robbery.
La’Shawn Porcher, 46, of Dayton, will be sentenced Aug. 13 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman. He was to be tried, along with his co-defendant, Richard T. Elijah, on Aug. 3. Elijah is still scheduled to go to trial.
Porcher was indicted on two counts. The second, complicity to commit felonious assault, was dropped under the plea agreement reached with the court. The charge he pleaded to is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but under the agreement, he will be sentenced to between five and eight years.
Had he been convicted of both charges, Porcher could have faced up to 18 years in prison.
The incident occurred Dec. 20 at the store at 1701 W. Dorothy Lane. Gina King was wheeling a shopping cart to her car when she was robbed and shot in the abdomen. She was released from Miami Valley Hospital six days later.
Less than an hour after the robbery, Moraine police arrested Porcher and Elijah, now 47 and also from Dayton.
Elijah had been released from prison just two days before the Walmart shooting for an April conviction for breaking and entering. He faces one count of aggravated robbery and two counts of felonious assault and could receive up to 26 years in prison.
Castillo verdict to be announced Aug. 4
DAYTON — Julio Castillo, the former Peoria Chiefs pitcher who hurled a baseball into the stands at Fifth Third Field, injuring a fan, will appear in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on Aug. 4 to learn Judge Connie S. Price’s verdict.
Castillo’s trial for two counts of felonious assault started last week and ended with closing arguments Thursday, July 23. Since Castillo waived his right to a jury trial, Price will decide whether prosecutors have proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt
Price said Thursday that she would take the matter under advisement and issue a written decision. On Tuesday, July 28, she said she would instead deliver the verdict in open court.
Castillo is charged under two statutory definitions of felonious assault. One requires proving that he did “serious physical harm,” the other that he used a “deadly weapon.” The charges are second-degree felonies, punishable by up to eight years in prison, though the charges could merge for sentencing purposes should he be convicted of both.
Castillo was on the mound at Fifth Third Field on July 24, 2008, when a brawl started on the field. Castillo ran off the mound, then hurled a baseball toward the Dayton Dragons’ dugout. The ball went high and struck spectator Christopher McCarthy, 45, of Middletown, giving McCarthy a concussion.
Prosecutors contend that Castillo threw the ball at an unidentified Dragon with the intent to hurt him.
Defense attorney Dennis Lieberman told Price that Castillo aimed at netting in front of the dugout, to warn the Dragons to stay back as the two teams’ managers were pushing each other. Castillo did that because he does not speak English and had no other way to communicate, Lieberman said. Because he had no intent to harm anyone, he cannot be found guilty of felonious assault, Lieberman told Price last week.
Castillo, 22, is from the Dominican Republic. He remains under contract with the Chicago Cubs, who are paying his legal bills, but has not played since the incident at Fifth Third.
- Photos: Ex-pitcher on trial for assault
- Photos: Brawl breaks out at Dayton Dragons game
- Video: Watch the brawl unfold
Judge sentences bank robber to four years
DAYTON — A man convicted of robbing a Riverside bank was sentenced Friday, July 24, to four years in prison.
Sean A. McLeod, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Timothy N. O’Connell also sentenced McLeod to six months in prison for a receiving stolen property charge in another case, but ordered that the six months be served concurrently with the four-year sentence.
McLeod was charged in the Feb. 23 robbery of the National City Bank, 182 Woodman Drive. Butler Twp. police arrested him on March 15, two days after an arrest warrant was issued.
