On April 27, 2012, Michael Abighanem, 27, was murdered during a robbery by Kyle Patrick, 17, and Reginald Whitfield, 21. Michael was trying to raise money to buy his son a birthday gift.
In April 2012, Michael Abighamen and his friend Michael Nakoneczny went to a home in Youngstown to sell a video game system and laptop computer. At the home were four men, including Kyle Patrick, who was 17 years old at the time, and Reginald Whitfield. Whitfield directed Abighamen upstairs to demonstrate on a television that the game system was operable. Patrick was upstairs hiding in a closet. Either Whitfield or Patrick shot Abighamen. Nakoneczny ran from the house.
Must Court Consider Juvenile’s Age When Imposing Life with Possibility of Parole Sentence?
Whitfield and Patrick were both offered plea agreements. Whitfield pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Patrick plead guilty to the lesser charge of murder, along with aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors recommended a 16-years-to-life prison sentence, which Patrick agreed to. Patrick then attempted to withdraw his plea, and when the judge refused, he appealed his sentence, resulting in the Seventh District Court of Appeals reversing the trial court’s decision.
Patrick was convicted of all original charges at trial. He was sentenced to 30 years to life for aggravated murder plus a three-year firearm specification. The Seventh District affirmed the sentence and Patrick went to the Ohio Supreme Court. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a trial court must separately consider a juvenile offender’s youth as a mitigating factor before giving them a life sentence, even one that allows the possibility of parole. We believe Ohio’s Supreme Court is the first one to make such a ruling–in Miller v. Alabama, the US Supreme Court ruled that a sentencing authority must consider a juvenile offender’s youth before sentencing them to life without parole. The Miller ruling did not impact life with parole sentences.
SB 256 has reduced Patrick’s sentence to 25 years to life.