YOUNGSTOWN — Rebecca Wetherill, 24, was sentenced to six months in the Mahoning County jail and three years of probation Tuesday after pleading guilty earlier to two low-level felonies in a Dec. 30, 2023, episode in Struthers.

Wetherill, of Boardman, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and attempted discharge of a firearm on or near a prohibited premises for being the driver of the car when Austin W. Beatty, 25, fired a gun from the car that struck a car in the driveway of a home on Ninth Street in Struthers.

Prosecutors recommended that Weatherill get one year in prison, but Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony D’Apolito said, “I don’t believe that she needs to go to prison.” On the other hand, “I can’t let her walk,” he said.

Wetherill’s attorney, Mark Carfolo, told D’Apolito that Wetherill did not know when she gave Beatty a ride that day that he was going to have her ride by a certain house and start shooting.

Wetherill, Beatty and two other people lived in a home “as friends” at the time, and Beatty had an issue with a man, Carfolo said.

According to a Struthers police report, officers found six spent shell casings in the street and later determined a vehicle was struck. The primary victim told police he believed Beatty, his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, was responsible. The man said Beatty had attacked the woman earlier in the day and showed police text messages in which Beatty threatened to shoot up their house, according to police.

The man also showed police security camera footage of a car believed to belong to Beatty or a friend of his. The report states it showed the passenger firing at the house and the car before turning around in a neighbor’s driveway and fleeing the scene.

Prosecutors have said Wetherill was complicit with Beatty in the incident.

D’Apolito sentenced Beatty to five to seven years in prison Jan. 3 after Beatty pleaded guilty to felonious assault and discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises.

Carfolo said Beatty had asked Wetherill for a ride, which he frequently did.

“He fired several shots,” hitting the victim’s car, Carfolo said. “Thank God he didn’t hit the victim.”

Carfolo said the reason Wetherill didn’t tell police what she knew was that Wetherill was “intimidated by Mr. Beatty” because she continued to live in the same home with him, and Beatty told her not to tell police. Beatty’s family also pressured Wetherill, Carfolo said. “She’s a young girl, 23, 24 at the time,” Carfolo added.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Katherine Jones confirmed that Wetherill had no previous criminal record. “Give her the opportunity to move forward in life,” Carfolo said.

The judge asked Wetherill if it is correct that Wetherill did not ask any questions when Beatty asked her to drive him somewhere that day and she agreed that was true because she did not know directions very well.

“It was just easier for him to tell me,” she said.

Wetherill said she did not see the victim outside of the home as they approached the home, but Jones clarified the victim was outside.

Wetherill said Beatty fired the gun three or four times toward a driveway. “I asked him ‘What just happened? Why did you do that?'” she told the judge. Beatty did not answer. She dropped Beatty off at one of his friend’s houses, she said.

The judge said it was hard for him to believe that Wetherill lived with Beatty and did not know about this dispute between Beatty and the other man and never asked Beatty where they were going that day.

“I understand what you are saying, Your Honor, but I really didn’t know what was going to happen that day,” she said.

She never did cooperate with police at any point, Carfolo and Jones confirmed when the judge asked. She remained fearful of retaliation if she went to police, Carfolo said.