ELYRIA — Two Lorain men have been found guilty of attempted murder and other charges for shooting an Oklahoma man in Lorain last year.
Kashaun Sibley
Defense attorney Anthony Baker promised to appeal the convictions of Kashaun Sibley and Nichalos Potts, both 19, after the jury returned its verdict in the case Monday following a trial that began last week.
Baker said that he didn’t think there was enough evidence to justify the convictions of his two clients, who were charged with shooting Marcus Delaney when he arrived at a Gary Avenue home Dec. 23 to meet with a friend.
According to court documents filed in the case, Delaney had gone to the house after the pair and a juvenile lured him to the house.
“The victim was an innocent individual who did nothing to provoke the defendants and thought he was meeting the juvenile to drink and hang out,” prosecutors wrote in one court filing.
When Delaney arrived he was “ambushed” and Sibley and Potts opened fire. Delaney was critically injured after bullets struck his spine and kidney according to the documents.
Nichalos Potts
Baker disputed that his clients were involved. He said there was no physical evidence linking them to the crime and no guns were ever recovered.
Instead, he said, prosecutors relied on witnesses, including a juvenile who was involved and cut a deal to testify against Sibley and Potts. Baker also said that witness accounts changed between when they talked to police and when they took the stand.
He also rejected the idea that Delaney was targeted because he was gay and had been communicating with someone Sibley and Potts knew, something prosecutors had suggested as a motive in the shooting.
“It wasn’t a gay thing,” Baker said. “It was a robbery.”
Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will did not return calls seeking comment on the verdict.
Sibley and Potts are due back in court next week for sentencing.
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