YOUNGSTOWN – Richard M. Henry’s attorney, Mark Lavelle, said Henry’s behavior with a gun last Dec. 21, which resulted in five serious charges against him, defies explanation other than alcohol use.

Lavelle said there was “no plan or motive” by Henry, 34, of Burlington Street, to hurt the mother of his children or his children. But “For reasons, known, I guess only to (Henry), he howled at the moon one night, drunk. He’s at her home. He starts shooting, again not in any particular fashion or with any malice,” Lavelle said.

Judge John Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Henry to three to four years in prison, with credit for 146 days in the Mahoning County jail awaiting sentencing, as recommended by both the prosecution and defense. Henry pleaded guilty to one of his four felonious assault charges and a gun specification.

Henry was ordered to have no contact with the victim, who did not attend the hearing. Also dismissed was three counts of misdemeanor child endangering and one of improperly discharging a firearm into or at a habitation.

Youngstown police said Henry fired a gun at the house that evening on Crandall Avenue on the North Side containing the mother of his child and three children ages 8 to 13.

Police said the woman told them Henry went to her house to drop off their son and was drunk. He was not allowed to be at the house, and she told him to leave, resulting in an argument.

Henry told the woman he was going to kill her before leaving the house on foot, police were told. Then the woman heard gunfire and heard several of the bullets strike the house. She saw Henry running on Crandall toward Belmont Avenue, she said.

Officers observed two holes in the siding on the first floor that traveled through the wall and into the kitchen. Two holes were seen on an interior wall on the second floor, police said.

Police recovered four spent bullet shell casings on the sidewalk and grass near the home.

For more on this story, please read Wednesday’s Vindicator.