Washington Twp. man gets prison for shooting neighbor in 2022

Benjamin Duer, The Repository
·2 min read
11

CANTON − Charles A. Reed will spend his twilight years in prison after shooting his neighbor outside an Alliance convenience store in May 2022.

Reed, 79, of Washington Township, was convicted and sentenced Thursday in Stark County Common Pleas Court for shooting 58-year-old Larry Nichols on May 23, 2022.

Charles A. Reed, 79, of Washington Township, was convicted and sentenced March 10, 2023, in Stark County Common Pleas Court of shooting his neighbor Larry Nichols in May 2022. Nichols survived the attack but he sent almost seven months in the hospital.
Charles A. Reed, 79, of Washington Township, was convicted and sentenced March 10, 2023, in Stark County Common Pleas Court of shooting his neighbor Larry Nichols in May 2022. Nichols survived the attack but he sent almost seven months in the hospital.

The shooting was the result of a nearly five-year dispute. Reed and Nichols were neighbors. Nichols refused Reed's help in 2018 and the relationship went downhill from there, according to Stark County Prosecutor's Office.

Reed was found guilty of shooting Nichols with .380 pistol outside the BellStores/Marathon gas station at 2491 W. State St., leaving Nichols hospitalized for almost seven months.

Nichols left the hospital Dec. 1, and returned for three weeks in late January, Nichols' family said.

"The bullet traveled down, hit his descending aorta, went through his stomach, went through his liver, through his colon and is lodged in his back. It's still in his back," Jim Williams, a friend, told The Canton Repository in June.

Reed's jury trial started Wednesday and ended Thursday in Judge Taryn Heath's courtroom.

Julie Jakmides, one of the defense attorneys, said her client claimed self-defense from a separate incident but the jury didn't agree with that position.

Prosecutors said Reed approached Nichols on Aug. 26, 2019, and an altercation occurred. Reed lost. He justified shooting Nichols, claiming he needed to defend himself as a result of the 2019 altercation, prosecutors said.

A charge of attempted murder was dismissed by jurors, court records show.

However, the jury found Reed guilty of felonious assault with a firearm specification and menacing by stalking with a firearm specification. Heath sentenced him to nine to 12 years in prison.

"We're very pleased that the jury concluded that he was not guilty of attempted murder charge," Jakmides said, "and while we respect the jury's decision, we're still weighing the possibility of an appeal."

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. Follow on Twitter @bduerREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Charles Reed, 79, going to Ohio prison over shooting neighbor in 2022