WARREN — A Warren man was sentenced Tuesday to nine to 12 years after being convicted of shooting five times the relative of a live-in girlfriend, prosecutors say.

John Daniel Jr, 52, was sentenced by Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Ronald Rice after Daniel was found guilty last week of second-degree felonious assault and fourth-degree domestic violence in Rice’s courtroom. The jury took only about an hour to convict Daniel, whose attorney argued during trial the shooting was done in self-defense.

Aaron Meikle, Daniel’s attorney, acknowledged his client shot one of the victims, but said his client wasn’t trying to kill them.

Rice wasn’t convinced by the attorney’s assessment.

“You got thrown off the bed, your alleged assailant as you claim left the room. You then grabbed a gun and chased him around the building with intent to kill him. For you to say it was self-defense is laughable, and the jury didn’t buy it either,” Rice said.

Prosecutors and a police report state officers were dispatched to an apartment on June 25, 2023, in the 4500 block of Berkshire Drive after the victim called to report that her boyfriend, Daniel, shot her brother.

Warren police Sgt. Trevor Sumption arrived first, and the then-girlfriend directed Sumption to her brother. She identified Daniel as the shooter, and he was applying pressure to a gunshot wound to the torso of the victim.

Daniel told police the gun was in a red wagon behind the apartment complex, where it was retrieved by police.

She told police she had been fighting with Daniel all day and that he had been sitting in the car drinking before entering the apartment to continue arguing with her.

She told police that Daniel accused her of sleeping with her ex. He then got on top of her while she was in bed and began punching her in the face.

The victim’s brother, who lived with the couple, tried to intervene and threw Daniel off his sister as the two then began to have a physical altercation.

Daniel retreated to a bedroom where he grabbed a firearm from a drawer. He then chased the victim’s brother around the apartment complex while shooting at the man, striking him in the arm and torso. Sumption arrived to find the victim lying the yard shortly after.

Police reported that the two victims were bleeding from the mouth.

Becker credited the investigative work of Warren police for helping provide the evidentiary basis for the case. Testimony was provided by two members of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Warren police detectives Brian Crites and Nicole Smith, as well as Sumption, also testified on behalf of the state.