An Akron man has been convicted of reckless homicide in the shooting death of a Canton man last spring, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 9 in Stark County Common Pleas Court, according to The Repository in Canton.
Daquan B.J. Rucker, 31, of Akron, was convicted in a two-day jury trial before Stark County Common Pleas Judge Frank G. Forchione that started Oct. 27, The Repository reported. In addition to reckless homicide, the jury found Rucker guilty of having weapons under disability and tampering with evidence, and the reckless homicide charge carried a specification that a gun was used in the crime, according to The Repository.
The case stems from the May 24 death of Richard A. Poole, 51, of Canton. Poole died after being shot in the chest during a gunfight at an apartment in the 800 block of Alan Page Drive SE, police have said, according to The Repository’s reporting.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed, from the court’s verdict as reported by The Repository, is the conviction itself, the three offenses, the gun specification, the judge who presided, and the Nov. 9 sentencing date. What is not yet known is the sentence Rucker will receive, and whether he will appeal. The Repository reported that it sent an email on the afternoon of Oct. 29 to Rucker’s attorney, Ty Graham, offering him the chance to comment, and did not receive an immediate reply.
Rucker is not the only person charged in connection with Poole’s death. Larry G. Grimes Jr., 45, of Canton, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, felonious assault, having weapons under disability and tampering with evidence, with gun specifications on the murder and felonious assault charges, according to The Repository. Grimes’s trial is scheduled for Jan. 11.
Poole was remembered in his obituary as the family comedian who could play any sport and loved music and a keyboard, The Repository reported. The obituary said he was self-employed, willing to help anybody move, and could clean and shine shoes or jewelry.
The conviction adds to a string of Stark County gun-violence cases working through Common Pleas Court this fall, including the case covered in NewsForce247’s earlier reporting, Akron Man Indicted on Murder Charges in Cuyahoga Falls Natatorium Shooting.
For Canton residents, the verdict closes the trial phase of a killing that happened in a residential neighborhood on the city’s southeast side in late May, while leaving the second defendant’s case — and the question of how the gunfight began — still before the court.
What happens next is Rucker’s sentencing on Nov. 9 before Judge Forchione, followed by Grimes’s scheduled Jan. 11 trial. NewsForce247 will follow both proceedings.
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The weapons-under-disability count reflects a separate legal restriction: under Ohio law, a person with certain prior convictions or legal disabilities may not legally possess a firearm, and a conviction on that count stands apart from the homicide verdict itself. The tampering-with-evidence count, as charged in cases of this kind, concerns actions prosecutors said were taken after the shooting.
At the Nov. 9 sentencing, Judge Forchione will set the sentence on each count and decide how the terms run. Reckless homicide is a third-degree felony in Ohio, and the gun specification the jury found can add mandatory prison time on top of the underlying sentence. Poole’s family will have the opportunity to be heard at sentencing, as Ohio law provides for victims’ families in felony cases.
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