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Staff photo / R. Michael Semple
William Gambino Jr. gestures as if heâs shooting a gun during testimony Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. A Trumbull County jury found Gambino guilty of three felonies and two gun specifications.
WARREN A Trumbull County jury on Tuesday returned guilty verdicts against a 47-year-old Eastlake defendant charged with three felonies in the Oct. 7, 2020, shooting of a Fowler man.
William L. Gambino Jr. was convicted of aggravated robbery, felonious assault and having weapons with restrictions. He is accused of shooting William Blake in the front yard of the victim’s 4020 Youngstown Kingsville Road home. The jury also determined two specifications that firearms were used in the assault and the robbery.
Mar 16, 2021
WARREN The defendant in an aggravated robbery and felonious assault trial Tuesday punctuated his testimony with angry outbursts, drawing admonishment from a Trumbull County Common Pleas judge.
William Gambino Jr., 47, took the stand in his own defense and frustrated assistant Prosecutor Michael Burnett with long rambling answers instead of just “yes” or “no.” At one point, the angry Gambino shouted an expletive at Burnett, which caused Judge Ronald J. Rice to call a short recess, and threaten the defendant with expulsion from the courtroom.
“I’m trying to answer these questions… this is my life. Throw me out of here if you want,” Gambino shot back.
WARREN - A jury has been seated in the felonious assault trial of a Cleveland area man charged in the shooting of a Fowler man last fall. Opening arguments ar
gvogrin@tribtoday.com
WARREN A Leavittsburg man faces up to a year in prison after pleading guilty to resisting Warren Township police April 29, 2020, as they were trying to put him in a cruiser after he was found naked at Eagle Creek and Templeton roads telling people he was Jesus Christ.
Nathan Ackerman, 41, of Florine Avenue, pleaded guilty Thursday to a bill of information charging him with obstruction of official business. A bill of information is a criminal charge that bypasses the grand jury process.
Ackerman had been indicted by a grand jury on a charge of assault of a police officer, but during plea bargain negotiations, prosecutors agreed to a lesser charge. The assault of a police officer charge carried a maximum 18-month prison term, while the obstruction charge carried a maximum 12-month term.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com
WARREN A woman who led law authorities on an extensive chase through Trumbull County last September was given a three-year prison term Thursday.
Quan’nita R. Pruitt, 22, of 738 Southern Blvd. NW, was admonished by Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice as an “absolute threat to society” as he sentenced her to the maximum term.
Rice noted Pruitt had a lengthy criminal record dating back to her theft and truancy charges as a teenager.
Pruitt last month pleaded guilty to a third-degree failure-to-comply with signal or order of a police officer charge.
The defendant, prior to sentencing, apologized to all the law officers involved in the chase and to the public. She said the incident was a “terrible mistake” and she was just scared.