Kenneth Cobb, who earlier this year pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and having a weapon under disability in the 2019 shooting death of Lima resident Branson Tucker, was sentenced Friday to 54 months in prison. After credit for time already served, Cobb will serve approximately 13 months in prison before he is released.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima resident Kenneth Cobb, who previously stood trial for murder in the 2019 shooting death of Branson Tucker, was sentenced Friday in Allen County Common Pleas Court to 54 months in prison on reduced charges.
With credit for time already served in the Allen County jail and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction as the case made its rounds through the appellate court and the Ohio Supreme Court, Cobb has approximately 13 months of prison time remaining to serve.
Cobb, now 65, was acquitted by a jury in January of 2022 on a charge of murder in the shooting death of Tucker in what was described as an altercation at an after-hours gambling establishment. Those same jurors convicted the Lima man on charges of felonious assault, which included a three-year firearm specification, and having a weapon under disability. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison on the two counts.
Cobb appealed the verdict, alleging his trial lawyer provided ineffective legal counsel for failing to make a motion to preclude at trial the terms “after-hours joint” and/or “gambling establishment” in the presence of jurors.
The Ohio Third District Court of Appeals denied the appeal, but the Supreme Court ruled in October of 2020 that Cobb should be retried due to a change in state law that placed the burden upon prosecutors to prove Cobb did not act in self defense in events leading up to the shooting, as he had alleged at trial.
Cobb in January of this year accepted a plea offer from prosecutors and pleaded guilty to Bill of Information charges of aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony, and having a weapon under disability, a felony of the third degree.
Assistant Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Thines asked Judge Terri Kohlrieser to impose the maximum possible sentence for Cobb, which she ultimately did. Downplaying the contrasting versions of events leading up to Tucker’s death, Thines said the “senseless loss of life” in the case “cannot be overstated.”
Cobb spoke on his own behalf prior to sentencing, again alleging he acted in self defense when he felt threatened by a group of people he had allowed into his house on the morning of the shooting. Cobb said he attempted to thwart a robbery when he took a gun and shot Tucker in the leg, believing he would only injure his attacker. Cobb said that when he learned the following morning that Tucker had died he went straight to police.
Kohlrieser, however, did not accept the notion that no serious harm was intended.
“Shooting someone in the leg does not mean anything,” the judge said. “You can’t put a bullet into someone’s body and expect them to live.”
“I’m glad it’s over,” Tucker’s sister told the court. “I don’t like to see people go to jail, but he (Cobb) is not sincere enough. He thinks it’s a joke. He knew what he was doing when he did it,” the woman said.
