Kenneth Cobb, at one time charged with murder in the 2019 shooting death of Lima resident Branson Tucker, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of aggravated assault and having weapons under disability. He will be sentenced Feb. 9.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — A man who at one time was charged with murder in the 2019 shooting death of a Lima resident on Tuesday pleaded guilty to greatly reduced charges.
Kenneth Cobb, whose 2020 conviction for felonious assault in the shooting death of Lima resident Branson Tucker was overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court, appeared before Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser on Tuesday for a change of plea hearing. He agreed to a plea offer from prosecutors and pleaded guilty to Bill of Information charges of aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony, and having a weapon under disability, a felony of the third degree.
Cobb was acquitted by a jury in January of 2022 of murder in the shooting death one year earlier of Tucker in what was described as an altercation at an after-hours gambling establishment.
Those same jurors convicted Cobb of felonious assault, with a three-year firearm specification, and having a weapon under disability. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison on the two counts.
Cobb appealed the verdict, alleging his trial lawyer provided ineffective legal counsel for failing to make a motion to preclude from trial the terms “after-hours joint” and/or “gambling establishment” in the presence of jurors.
The Ohio Third District Court of Appeals denied the appeal, but the Supreme Court ruled in October of 2020 that Cobb should be retried on the charges.
The incident in question occurred after tempers flared during a gambling session at 975 St. Johns Ave., Lima. Dustin Blake, Cobb’s attorney at the time, told jurors Cobb was protecting himself when he shot Tucker in the leg during the confrontation over gambling proceeds. Tucker died as a result of those wounds but jurors ruled that Cobb was not culpable in Tucker’s death.
Cobb, now 64, spent nearly three years behind bars as the appeal ran its course. He faces a maximum of 54 months behind bars when sentenced on Feb. 9 but could be freed with credit for time served.
Kohlrieser also agreed to amend Cobb’s bond from house arrest with an ankle monitor to a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. He will continue to wear the ankle monitoring device.
