Staff photo / Ed Runyan James A. Driscoll, 34, of Westchester Drive in Austintown, is seen at right with his attorney, Lynn Maro, during a hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday. Driscoll was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty to misdemeanor theft and misdemeanor aggravated menacing.

YOUNGSTOWN — James A. Driscoll, 34, of Westchester Drive in Austintown, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors Tuesday in a case that was indicted as felony robbery and felony intimidation.

Driscoll was indicted in 2019 in an Oct. 28, 2019, robbery at the One Stop Shop on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown. But John Zomoida, special prosecutor in the case, reduced the charges to misdemeanor theft and misdemeanor aggravated menacing.

Judge Maureen Sweeney sentenced Driscoll to six months in the Mahoning County jail. Driscoll received credit for 258 days of credit in jail awaiting trial, so he was released from the jail later Tuesday.

Zomoida said he was appointed to prosecute the case because Driscoll is related to a county assistant prosecutor.

Zomoida, who is Struthers law director, said he spoke with the store manager about the plea agreement, and one of the two employees who were in the store at the time of the robbery no longer works there. The other employee still works there but was not at the store when Zomoida visited the business.

But the store manager said that “given the fact that this happened almost four years ago, they don’t really care what happens in the case,” Zomoida said.

Driscoll’s attorney, Lynn Maro, said that from viewing store security video, she knows that Driscoll was in the store for “a lengthy period of time, talking to employees and there were no threats of violence.”

She said it appeared from the video that Driscoll picked up a bottle of alcohol and “walked towards the door with the alcohol. The employee may have recovered it. There was an altercation at the parking lot.” She said there were no weapons used and no one was injured and no threats of violence.

Last December, Driscoll was taken to Heartland Behavioral Healthcare, a state mental hospital in Massillon, to be treated for mental health issues, causing a delay in the case. There also was a gap of about 2 1/2 years in 2020, 2021 and part of 2022, during which there were no hearings because Driscoll failed to appear.

erunyan@vindy.com