27-Year Term Sought For Cheyne Kehoe Ohio Judge Schedules Sentencing For Tuesday

The state will ask a judge to send a Colville man to prison for 27-1/2 years for shooting at police officers in a videotaped gunbattle, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

A jury’s decision on Monday to convict Cheyne Kehoe of four of the five charges against him supported the actions of the two police officers who made a Feb. 15 traffic stop of the car carrying Kehoe and his brother, said Rick Moyer, an assistant Clinton County prosecutor.

A dashboard camera in a state police cruiser taped the gunfight.

“I’m satisfied that the jury believes the officers acted appropriately,” Moyer said.

Common Pleas Judge William McCracken on Tuesday scheduled sentencing for Tuesday. Kehoe, 21, of Colville, was convicted of two counts of felonious assault and one charge each of attempted murder and carrying a concealed weapon. He remained in jail pending sentencing.

Kehoe’s lawyer, Jeff Hoskins, said he will argue for a shorter prison term by encouraging the judge to combine some of the offenses for sentencing. Hoskins said the conviction will be appealed.

Kehoe’s brother, Chevie Kehoe, 25, also of Colville, is awaiting trial Feb. 23 in the same court. Chevie Kehoe, along with the charges his brother faced, will be tried on charges of fleeing and eluding, and improper transportation of firearms.

Chevie Kehoe is accused of shooting at two Wilmington police officers minutes after the first shooting. The city officers were not hit, but a driver of a pickup nearby was hit in the shoulder by a bullet, police said.

A video camera in the city police car briefly recorded shots hitting that car, but the tape is only a few seconds long. The state patrol tape runs about seven minutes.

Chevie Kehoe’s defense is trying to have his trial moved out of Wilmington. McCracken has not ruled on the request.

Cheyne Kehoe’s conviction could make it harder to find an impartial jury, said Chevie Kehoe’s public defender, Jerry McHenry.

“In Wilmington, it’s been amply reported and photographed. So I think that could have an impact,” McHenry said.

Moyer said he thinks the first Kehoe trial will have little impact on the second.

“But you do get a feel of how to present the case to the jury,” Moyer said.

Cheyne Kehoe’s jury deliberated almost six hours before convicting him of four charges and acquitting him of a second count of attempted murder of a state trooper.

He had testified that after he and his brother were stopped for a license plate violation that day, he returned gunfire from state trooper John Harold Harker and deputy sheriff Robert Gates to give himself a chance to flee.

The prosecution said Kehoe fired at the officers and provoked the confrontation by pulling a gun inside the car after Harker walked up to the vehicle.