Brianna Patrick, 17, was sentenced in Allen County Juvenile Court on Tuesday to a minimum of four years of incarceration with the Ohio Department of Youth Services for her role in the 2022 shooting death of Lima resident Jaden Halpern.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — Brianna Patrick, who was 15 years old when she traveled with five other Lima area teenagers to a Lane Avenue residence to carry out an ill-conceived robbery attempt that ended in the death of 17-year-old Jaden Halpern, was sentenced Tuesday in Allen County Juvenile Court to a minimum of four years of incarceration with the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
During a change-of-plea hearing before Judge Todd Kohlrieser, Patrick admitted her actions contributed to Halpern’s death with pleas of guilty to an amended charge of involuntary manslaughter, which included a three-year firearm specification, and to being a Serious Youthful Offender.
Kohlrieser imposed upon Patrick a 10-year prison sentence, then set that sentence aside in favor of the SYO penalty.
Patrick was one of six teens who drove to 764 W. Lane Ave. in Lima on the morning of June 10, 2022, with the intention of robbing Halpern of drugs, money or weapons. Two males in the group were carrying replica weapons got to the threshold of the home when they were engaged by Halpern. David Halpern, Jaden’s father, saw what he believed to be an assault rifle he fired one shot. His son stepped in front of the bullet and was struck in the back.
Halpern’s mother addressed the court prior to the imposition of Patrick’s sentence.
“Brianna, I wish you hadn’t been there that night. We don’t want you to go away forever; we want you to get help,” the woman said. “Jaden was a special person and we miss him a lot. We can’t see him anymore, and it’s hard. But we ask God to take care of you.”
Lacy Patrick, the defendant’s grandmother and surrogate mother, said Brianna is a good and caring person “who made some very bad decisions” on that night in the summer of 2022.
The woman said her granddaughter feared for her life as the events of the evening played out.
“Some choices were taken away from her that night,” Lacy Patrick said. “If she had known those guns were fake she would have run.”
Brianna Patrick, speaking in a barely audible voice, apologized to the Halpern family.
“I’m sorry for the pain I caused,” she said. “I wish I would have had a stronger mindset that night. I feel so horrible for what happened and I take responsibility for my actions.”
A Sept. 26 hearing is scheduled in juvenile court Roselyn Thomas-Lewis, the final defendant in the Halpern case to have her fate determined.
