LIMA — A 39-year-old man who pleaded guilty to shooting another man despite proclaiming his innocence was sentenced to six years in prison Monday morning.
Leroy Foster, of Lima, is convicted of shooting Dedric Curtis with a handgun on June 5, 2021. He pleaded guilty in August but said at Monday’s hearing that he was with family at the time of the shooting and only pleaded guilty to avoid a longer sentence. He said his father died while he was in prison and he wants to avoid a similar situation with his mother.
Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Destiny Caldwell said she talked with the victim extensively and he and Foster have known each other since they were kids. She said Curtis identified Foster as the person who shot him.
Foster objected to this and said there was an age difference between the two men and they did not “grow up together.”
Despite his insistence that he is innocent, Foster agreed to move forward with sentencing and not withdraw his plea at the hearing. He asked Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Reed if he could later withdraw his plea after the sentencing, to which Reed said he could but it would be quite difficult.
“I’m going to get a paid lawyer; I don’t want you working on my case,” Foster told Kenneth Sturgill, his public defender.
Reed ordered Foster to pay all court costs. He will receive 484 days of jailtime credit to go toward his sentence.
Reach Jessica Orozco at 564-242-0398 or on Twitter @JessicaCOrozco.
