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LISBON -- Two Cleveland men accused in the shooting of James Cunningham Jr. at a Wellsville area home in January, both pleaded guilty to charges in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court this week.
Antwain B. Shepherd, 28, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felonious assault with a firearm specification. He was sentenced immediately to three years in prison for felonious assault and one additional year consecutive to that for the firearm specification.
Marcel D. Brown, 30, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to complicity to felonious assault and was sentenced immediately to two years in prison, which was the minimum for the charge.
According to Assistant County Prosecutor Megan Bickerton, the two men went to the home on Hillcrest Road on Jan. 10 and called Cunningham to come to the home, where they got into a confrontation and altercation with him. At some point, they took Cunningham into a bathroom in the home where a shot was fired, which struck Cunningham in the knee. Reports at the time of the incident claimed the two men also pushed Cunningham's head into the toilet during the assault.
During Brown's hearing on Wednesday, defense attorney Richard Hura said Brown has confessed to what he did and shown remorse for it.
Both Shepherd and Brown had been scheduled to have jury trials on Tuesday, but each decided to take stipulated plea agreements instead.