Lorain men sentenced for attempted murder of Oklahoma man

ELYRIA — Just before they were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences Tuesday, two 19-year-old Lorain men denied they were responsible for shooting an Oklahoma man last year in what prosecutors have described as an ambush.

STEVE MANHEIM/CHRONICLE Defense attorney Anthony Baker, left, stands with Kashaun Sibley, and Nichalos Potts as they are sentenced for attempted murder in Judge James Miraldi’s court at Lorain County Justice Center on Dec. 22.

Nichalos Potts was ordered to serve 17 years in prison by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Miraldi, who also sentenced co-defendant Kashaun Sibley to 16 years behind bars.

As the two men stood to face sentencing, their family and friends in the courtroom rose behind them. When Sibley was sentenced, one woman cried out “Oh my, god!” and, after the hearing concluded, another woman called out to police and prosecutors that what they had done would be exposed before leaving the courtroom.

Potts said before the sentence was handed down that there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. He also asked Miraldi to allow him to be freed for at least some time so he could bond with his young child, a request the judge denied.

“I understand the seriousness of these allegations and acknowledge violence has no place in our community,” Potts said. “But with all due respect to the jury and its decision, the case lacked physical evidence placing myself at the crime scene.”

Police never recovered the guns used in the shooting, but Assistant County Prosecutor Donna Freeman said it was apparent that two guns were used in the Dec. 23, 2014, shooting of Marcus Delaney.

Sibley said while Delaney would get to spend the holidays with his family, he would not have that ability.

“I know I’m not no angel or saint, but to get found guilty on a shooting I was not present for or did had to be the worst feeling I ever felt,” he said.

Sibley also said that he forgave Delaney for saying he shot him because he understood the victim wanted justice for being shot.

Freeman said neither Sibley nor Potts expressed remorse for the shooting, and they deserved lengthy prison sentences. She also noted that witnesses in the case had been threatened, which prompted Miraldi to warn the pair that if anything happened to those involved in the case, it could impede their chances of winning a possible early release.

Potts and Sibley were convicted of attempted murder and other charges last week after a jury trial in which prosecutors said they were responsible for shooting Delaney when he arrived at a Gary Avenue home.

Freeman argued that they, along with a teenager who has already pleaded out in juvenile court in the case, lured Delaney to the house. Delaney was critically injured when bullets struck his spine and kidney.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that Delaney was targeted because he was gay and had expressed an interest in a 16-year-old relative of Potts.

Defense attorney Anthony Baker urged Miraldi not to sentence his clients to prison, but instead to throw out the jury’s verdict and grant Sibley and Potts a new trial.

He argued that the evidence in the case didn’t support their convictions. He said several witnesses told conflicting accounts to police and when they took the stand, and some were on drugs when the shooting happened.

He also questioned Delaney’s testimony because he argued that Delaney identified Potts based on a tattoo that his client didn’t get until after the shooting.

Baker said he was concerned that jurors may have been biased against his clients and didn’t appear to listen to the evidence in the case, something he argued was proven by the speed in which the jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts.

“It’s a problem when you have a five-day trial and a three-hour deliberation,” Baker said.

Freeman said there was nothing wrong with the jury selection in the case, and it’s up to jurors to decide which witnesses to believe.

Miraldi rejected the request for a new trial, saying he found that the evidence in the case supported the verdict, which Sibley and Potts already have appealed.