After a day of negotiations between attorneys, Antoine Bennett accepted an agreement late Monday afternoon and pleaded guilty to a February shooting death at an Akron party.
Bennett, 32, of Cleveland pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter with a gun specification and having weapons under disability. The remaining charges against him were dropped.
A Summit County jury already had been seated on Monday for the murder trial when the plea agreement was reached.
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan sentenced Bennett to nine years in prison, the amount of time agreed to by Bennett’s lawyer and Summit County prosecutors. Bennett faced up to 17 years on the amended charges.
Bennett was originally charged with murder and felonious assault with gun specifications, tampering with evidence and having weapons under disability.
Police said Bennett was at a birthday party in the 500 Block of North Howard Street about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 14 when a fight broke out. Bennett fired three shots, killing Gabriel A. Rios, 25, and injuring another man, police said.
Rios was found inside the home with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was taken to Summa Akron City Hospital, where he later died. A second man who was shot in the foot flagged down police about a block from the Howard Street home. He was taken to Akron City Hospital and treated for the injury.
A major challenge in the case was whether the witnesses to the shooting who were at the party — friends of Bennett and Rios — would testify to what they saw.
Jon Sinn, Bennett’s attorney, advised him to accept the agreement. He said it is seldom that a plea agreement is offered on a murder case.
“These are tough cases,” he said. “It is a tragedy when you have someone die. All of the witnesses could have shown up or none of the witnesses.”
Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Teri Burnside said she thought this was a “good resolution” to the case.
Prosecutors had subpoenaed Bennett’s girlfriend who is also the mother of his child and was at the party, moving her from the Cuyahoga County Jail to the Summit County Jail for Bennett’s trial that was expected to last a week.
They agreed to return her to the Cuyahoga County Jail in time for a Tuesday court appearance there on unrelated charges.
Bennett said nothing before his sentencing.
“Good luck to you, sir,” Callahan told him.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj .