Arrius Thomas, 20, of Lima, will be sentenced April 12 after pleading guilty Tuesday to single counts of the improper discharge of a firearm at or into a habitation and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — A young Lima man entered into an agreement with prosecutors on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to a pair of charges related to shots being fired into a city residence.
Arrius Thomas, 20, will be sentenced April 12 after entering guilty pleas to single counts of the improper discharge of a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone, a second-degree felony, and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, a felony of the fourth degree.
In exchange for those pleas prosecutors dismissed nearly identical third- and fourth-degree felony counts, as well as attached firearm specifications.
The plea deal, which reportedly had been reached in principal last week, nearly didn’t happen after Thomas hesitated at signing off on the plea agreement. He asked Judge Terri Kohlrieser if he could speak with his family “to see what they think” before entering his plea.
The judge allowed Thomas a brief amount of time to confer and, following the recess, accepted the defendant’s guilty pleas.
Thomas faces a minimum prison term of between two and eight years on the second-degree felony charge and up to 18 months on the fourth-degree felony. Kohlrieser ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
According to court records, Lima police officers on the morning of Oct. 28 were dispatched to the 400 block of North Pine Street in reference to shots fired into a dwelling.
A brown Chevy Impala reportedly was seen fleeing from the front of the residence immediately after the shots were fired from inside the vehicle as it sat in the middle of the street, according to a caller. Shots entered into the front living room of the residence, just feet from where at least one occupant of the home was seated.
At the scene officers learned that Isael Cotton Jr. was involved in an altercation with the mother of his children at a home in the 300 block of East Ninth Street shortly before the shots were fired. He reportedly was picked up and brought to the North Pine Street residence.
Officers went to the Ninth Street apartment and found the Chevy Impala that matched the earlier description. Further investigation revealed that the vehicle was seen on Lima Senior High School surveillance video after the shooting just a few blocks away from the North Pine Street residence.
Witnesses confirmed it was Thomas who was driving the car.
The occupant of the Ninth Street residence gave police permission to search the home and the firearm believed to have been used in the shooting was located “in a location accessible to Arrius Thomas when entering the apartment,” according to court documents.
The firearm had the same common type ball ammunition in the magazine, police said.
