WARREN — A three-judge panel in the 11th District Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal of a Warren man convicted in the 2017 robbery of a USA Taxi driver.

Jeremiah Ulysses Jones, 24, of Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, appealed his 2017 conviction, with Jones arguing the trial court erred in denying a motion stating a “manifest injustice” had occurred.

A Stow-based attorney, Michael A. Partlow, filed the appeal on behalf of Jones stating that his client’s guilty plea “was not knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily made because Jones was not advised he could appeal the trial court’s decision on competency.”

The appeal was argued on behalf of the state by Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Sanders.

The appeals court, led by Judge Robert J. Patton and joined by Judges Eugene A. Lucci and Mary Jane Trapp, disagreed with Partlow and Jones’ assessment of the guilty plea, with Patton writing, “Upon review of the record, appellant’s (Jones) claim does not amount to a manifest injustice warranting withdrawal of his plea. Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied appellant’s post-sentencing motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. (The) sole assignment of error is meritless.”

Jones was sentenced to six years in prison by now-retired Trumbull County Judge W. Wyatt McKay on 2017 charges of aggravated robbery, felonious assault and having weapons while under disability.

Jones was one of two men who sought a ride from the taxi driver to Highland Terrace, but when the driver refused, he was hit in the head and robbed, according to a police report.

Jones also was sentenced by another retired judge, Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Peter Kontos, for his involvement in a June 2018 robbery of jewelry from a woman in Howland. The woman met Jones and two others to sell a gun when she was shot in the leg, according to a police report.

Court records state as part of a plea agreement in the 2017 and 2018 cases, Jones was sentenced to six years in prison, which were to be served consecutively.