Maybe representing himself wasn’t such a great idea.
A Summit County jury found a Cleveland man who served as his own lawyer guilty of charges filed against him for a series of break-ins at local businesses.
Richard Reinbold, a visiting judge in Summit County Common Pleas Court, sentenced Andre Yeager Tuesday to 4½ years in prison.
Yeager, 47, had Job Esau Perry as his standby attorney in the event he needed legal advice, but otherwise handled his own defense in a trial that began last Thursday.
Yeager was charged with four counts of breaking and entering, as well as receiving stolen property, possessing criminal tools, driving under suspension, and obstructing official business. The charges of driving under suspension and possession of criminal tools were dismissed in the course of the trial.
Prosecutors said Yeager was involved in break-ins at four local businesses between 2013 and 2016 in which someone rammed a vehicle into a door or window and then stole items from inside. They say Yeager’s DNA matched DNA samples found at the scenes of three of the four break-ins.
Prosecutors said Yeager might be linked to as many as 15 break-ins at businesses in the Akron area.
Yeager, however, claimed to be innocent in his opening statement in the trial.
“You are the only buffer for me staying free,” he told the jury. “I have a lot to lose today.”
Yeager didn’t testify in the trial and put on no witnesses in his defense.
The jury returned guilty verdicts at 5:45 p.m. Monday except for one of the breaking-and-entering charges on which they were deadlocked. Jurors resumed deliberations Tuesday morning and reported a guilty verdict on the final charge about noon Tuesday.
Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Ty Graham suggested to Reinbold that Yeager receive 5½ years, the maximum penalty possible after the two charges were dismissed. Graham also requested that Yeager be required to pay restitution to the businesses from which he stole high-end optical frames, liquor and cigars.
Yeager suggested that the judge sentence him to one year.
Perry said Yeager plans to appeal.
“He had his day in court,” Perry said.
Yeager previously was convicted of break-ins at Akron area businesses, including a string of 100 “cigarette bandit” thefts in the early 2000s in which someone drove a stolen car through plate-glass widows of businesses, stepped over the broken glass and stole dozens of cigarette cartons.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.