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WARREN -- A Youngstown man who defended himself at trial on felony charges in a Champion home invasion received a 14- to 18-year prison sentence Wednesday.
Michael A. Rivers, 39, of Potomac Avenue, was in orange coveralls as he received the indefinite term from Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge W. Wyatt McKay. A jury earlier this month had found Rivers guilty of aggravated burglary and two counts of having a weapons under disability with gun specifications. Ohio law dictated the two gun specifications be served separately, and before the sentence.
McKay said he didn't give Rivers the maximum because testimony showed he did not intend to harm the victims during the break-in on the morning of March 26, 2020.
Rivers, who had fired his attorney before trial, said he plans to hire another attorney for the appeal. McKay ordered attorney Alexander Keane to file the appeal for Rivers.
Two of the victims of the break-in were in the courtroom for the sentencing but did not address the court.
During the trial, Rivers testified he didn't threaten anybody, or break into a house that he was staying in after being released from prison during the first part of 2020. Under cross examination, Rivers admitted to the weapons charges because he touched guns in a Shafer Road, Champion, duplex where he was found by police hiding in a bedroom closet.
Rivers told the jury he let himself in earlier with a key that he had later put in his wallet. He testified he had been staying at the Champion address, although he gave his probation officer the Youngstown address of his aunt.
A now former girlfriend, the mother of Rivers' 4-year-old daughter, and another woman had earlier testified they were awakened by rustling sounds. When the lights came on, they found Rivers at the foot of their bed with two guns and cellphones in his hands.
The women testified the guns were theirs and Rivers must have been in the house for hours looking for them. One of the women testified she had heard plastic rustling.
Officers could not find any evidence of a forced entry, and the women testified they were unsure how the man got into the residence.
Assistant Prosecutor Gabriel Wildman had said Rivers had rejected a plea-deal sentence of five years in order to go to trial.
In a related Mahoning County case, Rivers is accused of attacking two women about 5:50 a.m. May 4, 2021, in a driveway in the 4600 block of Burkey Road in Austintown. Reports said the two women were the victims who testified in Rivers' Champion case.
In the case before Common Pleas Judge Anthony Donofrio, Rivers is charged with aggravated robbery, two counts of felonious assault, having weapons under restriction and grand theft.
A jury trial before Donofrio is scheduled for March 20, 2023.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com