ELYRIA — Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski announced this morning that he will not sentence convicted killer Justin Chapman for a third time.

Chapman

Chapman’s lawyer, Kenneth Lieux, had asked Betleski to remove himself from the case because of a 9th District Court of Appeals decision that said the judge appeared to have given Chapman a harsher sentence, 30 years to life in prison, because he took his case to trial after rejecting several plea offers from prosecutors.

Chapman has twice been found guilty of murder and other charges stemming from the April 26, 2005, shooting death of his friend, Darren English, during a botched robbery. The victim in the robbery, William “B.J.” Fiske III, was shot six times but survived.

Betleski said he believes he was fair to Chapman — the second time he imposed a sentence in the case, he gave Chapman a shorter prison sentence than he had following the first trial — but didn’t want to risk having the case overturned by the appeals court a third time.

The appeals court threw out Chapman’s original conviction because of concerns over a plea deal prosecutors cut with a co-defendant in the case.

A new judge will be assigned to the case.

Read Saturday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

ELYRIA — A three-judge panel that will decide whether convicted killer and rapist Ronald McCloud Jr. lives or dies began deliberating at about 10 a.m. today after hearing closing arguments in the penalty phase of his trial. (more…)

ELYRIA — Police said a Subway restaurant was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday evening.

The Subway at 521 Lake Ave. in Elyria was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday. (CT photo by Kaitlin Bushinski.)

Two black males entered the Subway at 521 Lake Ave. shortly before 9:30 p.m. with one carrying a handgun, Elyria Lt. Scott Sergeant said.

The men fled the store with the insert for the cash register that contained an undisclosed amount of money.

Sergeant said the cash register insert was later found emptied behind a nearby church.

No injuries were reported as a result of the robbery.

Police were trying to obtain video footage of the suspects from a camera in the store.

As of Tuesday evening no suspects were in custody.

The robbery remains under investigation, Sergeant said.

Contact Kaitlin Bushinski at (440) 329-7144 or kbushinski@chroniclet.com.

CT photo by Bruce Bishop.

ELYRIA — Police are on the scene of a shooting at 401 Second St. (more…)