WILMINGTON — The second of four shooting suspects pled guilty and was sentenced to prison.
Christian Terry, 22, pled guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter, dismissing all other charges, to Clinton County Common Pleas Judge John “Tim” Rudduck on Monday.
Terry will immediately begin two years of prison at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. He will be given jail credit for his time served since his booking on Jan. 22.
Terry is one of four suspects accused of the shooting death of 23-year-old Layne Hall of Blanchester on Jan. 21.
When asked to speak, Terry expressed guilt for his involvement and apologized to Hall’s family for Hall’s death. Kelly Snell, Layne Hall’s mother, spoke, saying she believes Terry deserves to be in jail and hopes he learns something from this.
The other three are Kevin Noe Jr., 22, Corey Ruffner, 21, and Joshua Williams, 18.
Noe pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter in August, dismissing other charges of murder and robbery. Noe, who expressed remorse for the incident, received three years of community control.
Ruffner is charged with alleged murder, involuntary manslaughter, and robbery.
Williams now faces charges of “using a firearm in connection with a crime of violence” and drug possession with intent to distribute in U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati).
Court documents indicated Hall, Terry, Noe, and Ruffner allegedly rode in a car together to meet someone at the Brownberry Apartments parking lot; soon after the four arrived, the person that they were to meet — allegedly Williams — pulled up in a car, and shortly after that is when gunfire was heard.
Prosecution and the court highlighted the fact that Terry brought a firearm to the incident. Because of this, Terry must forfeit any firearms and ammo to authorities.
Although court documents indicate Terry, Noe or Ruffner did not purposely kill Hall, it alleges that if they had not taken part in initiating a robbery, the alleged murder would not have occurred. Williams is suspected of directly causing Hall’s death.
A jury trial for Ruffner is scheduled to begin Oct. 20. A federal trial for Williams is scheduled to begin Dec. 14.
