YOUNGSTOWN - A man accused of killing an elderly South Side man and wounding his wife in a case of mistaken identity was found guilty of murder Wednesday, but was spared the death penalty.
Jurors in the courtroom of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Maureen Sweeney found 27-year-old Kevin Agee of Garfield Street guilty of the murder of 75-year-old Thomas Repchic as he was driving his car on Southern Boulevard on Sept. 25, 2010.
Wounded in the same shooting was Repchic's wife, Jacqueline, whose injuries from the shooting led to her foot being amputated. Agee was found guilty of her attempted murder.
The jury Wednesday morning could not reach a verdict on a charge of aggravated murder with a death penalty specification. If they had found Agee guilty of aggravated murder, he would have been eligible to receive the death penalty.
He now faces 28 years to life in prison. A sentencing date has not been set yet.
Jacqueline Repchic was wheeled into court in a wheelchair to hear the verdict. Family members declined to comment after the verdict was read.
Agee mouthed ''I love you'' to his mother, who was clasping hands with two other women when the verdict was read.
Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa said jurors were told by Sweeney if they could not reach a verdict on aggravated murder, they must then deliberate the other charges.
''They still found enough evidence that he (Agee) was at least complicit,'' Cantalamessa said. ''We're satisfied that he's guilty, and he's been convicted and there will be some punishment.''
One of Agee's lawyers, Rhys Cartwright-Jones, said it was clear by the verdict that jurors had deliberated carefully.
The seven-man, five-woman jury received the case Tuesday afternoon and deliberated for about three hours before returning at 9 a.m. Wednesday and reaching a verdict about 10:15 a.m.
Agee's co-defendant, Aubrey Toney, 31, could face the death penalty if he is convicted of Thomas Repchic's murder. He is slated to go on trial in October.
Prosecutors say Toney and Agee were feuding with two other men who drove a car that looked like the one the Repchics were driving and they spotted it at Southern Boulevard and East Philadephia Avenue as Thomas Repchic was driving his wife home from her job as a receptionist at St. Dominic Church.
The defense team said that Agee drove the car and that Toney was the shooter. They said that Agee did not know Toney's intentions, a claim prosecutors disputed.