An Akron woman faces six to 14 years in prison after being convicted of kidnapping for holding a Franklin Township man against his will and at gunpoint in his apartment following a fight in October 2012. Her brother faces two to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony assault charge after his sister's trial ended.
A two-day trial in Portage County Common Pleas Court ended with a jury finding Patricia A. Stephenson, 29, guilty of one count of kidnapping, a first-degree felony, with a firearms specification. Sentencing by Judge John Enlow is pending a pre-sentence investigation.
Jurors found Stephenson not guilty of a second charge of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, also with a firearm specification, according to Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci. The trial began March 12 and ended March 14, he said.
On Friday, Antonio L. Stephenson, 23, also of Akron, pleaded guilty to one count of complicity to felonious assault, a second-degree felony, in Judge Laurie Pittman's courtroom. Sentencing is pending an expedited pre-sentence investigation.
In a case investigated by the Portage County Sheriff's Office, Patricia Stephenson was accused of accompanying her brother to an apartment on Ashton Lane in the Campus Pointe apartment complex in Franklin Township on Oct. 29. Antonio Stephenson had been to a party at the same apartment the previous weekend, but left a set of speakers behind after the party was broken up by police, Vigluicci said.
Grace Warren, who lived at the apartment with her boyfriend Jawn Holmes, met the Stephenson siblings there, he said. When Holmes later showed up, he was attacked by Antonio Stephenson, who punched and choked him, Vigluicci said.
Patricia Stephenson prevented Holmes from escaping and at one point pulled a chrome .22-caliber handgun, Vigluicci said. She pointed it at Holmes, who managed to push the gun away and a shot was fired into the ceiling of the apartment, he said.
Even though he was not struck by the bullet, Holmes yelled "you shot me," at which point the Stephensons fled and the victims called 911, Vigluicci said. Holmes and Warren declined medical treatment, he said.
Deputies recovered a spent .22-caliber shell casing and other evidence. The Stephensons turned themselves in to the sheriff's office on Nov. 13, and grand jury indictments were handed up two days later, according to court records.
Antonio Stephenson admitted he took his sister with him to retrieve the speakers, Vigluicci said. He also allegedly admitted there was a love triangle taking place between him, Warren and Holmes, and was "concerned how Jawn was going to react because Antonio thought he was a threat to Jawn's relationship with Grace," Vigluicci said.
Patricia Stephenson denied any knowledge of a gun being inside the apartment, he said. A jailhouse informant who bunked with her later told deputies that Patricia Stephenson told her she had the gun, brought it into the apartment and that it was fired sometime during the incident, Vigluicci said.
Contact this reporter at 330-298-1128
or dobrien@recordpub.com
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