The “appeal shall be expedited in accordance” with the law, Nealon stated in a one-page filing last week.
“No extensions of time will be granted, except upon showing extraordinary circumstances,” according to the ruling. “This matter will be scheduled for the court’s consideration at the earliest available date upon completion of briefing.”
CORONAVIRUS: Complete coverage from the Dayton Daily News
Gregory is serving an 11-year prison sentence, minus time served, after being found guilty by a Montgomery County Common Pleas Court jury and later pleading guilty to other charges after admitting to firing the shot authorities said killed Bowers when both were 16.
The case of Gregory, now 20, is in the 2nd District Court of Appeals of Ohio. The case went back and forth between juvenile and adult court until late last year, when Juvenile Court Judge Anthony Capizzi ruled the defendant was not a good candidate to be rehabilitated in that system by his 21st birthday.
Since November 2012, Gregory’s is only one of a few Montgomery County juvenile cases to go to adult court, return to juvenile and then go back to adult, court officials said. During that time, at least 88 juvenile cases have been bound over to adult court, records show.
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Gregory was convicted by a jury of reckless homicide and a related charge in November 2018 after he testified he fired a shot at Bowers’ car that authorities said fatally wounded the victim in what was Kettering’s first gun-related homicide since 2007.
Gregory then pleaded guilty to felonious assault charges last year, and received an adult court sentence, which was stayed pending the juvenile court hearing. His sentence was imposed in December.
Gregory’s case initially went from juvenile court to the adult system because he was charged with murder, among many other counts.
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But he was not convicted of that charge, returning the case to juvenile court.
Gregory had been in custody since shortly after the shooting, effectively making his sentence fewer than eight years remaining. Prosecutors sought a sentence of at least 35 years.
Gregory and Bowers did not know each other at the time of the shooting, which occurred on Willowdale Avenue on Sept. 4, 2016. Bowers was seeking to drive away after a confrontation that started earlier at AlterFest, court witnesses said.
Neither of the two were involved in the initial confrontation, witnesses said.
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