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Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Second Walmart attacker pleads out
DAYTON — The second of two men accused of robbing and shooting a 28-year-old woman at a Moraine Walmart Supercenter pleaded guilty Tuesday, Aug. 4, to felony charges.
Richard T. Elijah was to go on trial Tuesday before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman. Elijah pleaded guilty to two counts of felonious assault and one count of aggravated robbery, which were the counts in his indictment.
As part of the plea agreement, Wiseman sentenced Elijah, 47, to 10 years in prison. Had he been convicted after a trial, he could have received up to 26 years in prison.
His co-defendent, La’Shawn Porcher, 46, will be sentenced by Wiseman on Aug. 13. He pleaded guilty July 24 to complicity to commit aggravated robbery. A second count, complicity to commit felonious assault, was dropped. 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.
Elijah had been released from prison just two days before the Walmart shooting for an April conviction for breaking and entering.
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, who are both from Dayton.
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Pitcher guilty of felonious assault
DAYTON — Julio Castillo, the former Peoria Chiefs pitcher who beaned a fan at Fifth Third Field last summer, was convicted of one count of felonious assault Tuesday, Aug. 4.
Castillo, 22, who is from the Dominican Republic, appeared before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Connie S. Price, who presided over his trial from July 21 to 23. Since Castillo waived his right to a jury trial, Price rendered the verdict.
Castillo was charged under two statutory definitions of felonious assault. One requires proving that he did “serious physical harm,” which Price convicted him of. She found him not guilty of the charge that he used a “deadly weapon.”
Both charges are second-degree felonies, punishable by up to eight years in prison, though the charges could have merged for sentencing purposes should he be convicted of both.
Price set his sentencing for Aug. 6.
Defense attorney Dennis Lieberman declined to comment as he left the courtroom with Castillo.
Assistant county prosecutors Tracey Ballard Tangeman and Jon Marshall said they were disappointed by the split verdict, but happy that Castillo was convicted of one of the two felony counts.
“This paves the way for a sense of accountability,” Tangeman said.
They declined to comment on the prosecution’s position on sentencing. Tangeman said Castillo could be eligible for probation.
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 contended that Castillo threw the ball at an unidentified Dragon with the intent to hurt him.
Defense attorney Dennis Lieberman told Price during the trial 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 could not be found guilty of felonious assault, Lieberman told Price last week.
Castillo 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
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New Lebanon man convicted of 56 child porn charges
DAYTON — A New Lebanon man, charged with 56 felony counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, pleaded no contest to all of them Tuesday, Aug. 4.
Edward Eckley, 46, appeared before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Gregory F. Singer, who found him guilty. Singer ordered a pre-sentencing investigation and set a sentencing for Sept. 8.
One of the counts is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to eight years in prison. The rest are fourth-degree felonies, punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
A grand jury indicted Eckley on Feb. 12, 10 months after police started investigating him. Three days later, Florence, Ky., police arrested him after spotting his car in a motel parking lot there.
The investigation started after a sheriff’s office in Michigan called police April 16, 2008, reporting that investigators there had tracked a computer involved in the transmission of child pornography to an address in New Lebanon, New Lebanon Police Chief Ricky Daulton said in February.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for Eckley’s home the next day and confiscated three computers. A forensic examination at the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory revealed the presence of sexually oriented material involving minors.
After the indictment was returned, police went to Eckley’s home, but he was not there. An alert was distributed to law enforcement agencies and Florence police spotted Eckley’s car during routine license plate checks.
