A Cleveland man has pleaded guilty in connection with a 2024 shooting in Amherst, avoiding trial on the day jury selection was scheduled to begin.
Lavelle Lewis, 30, of West 150th Street, entered a guilty plea on May 22 to felonious assault with a forfeiture specification and criminal damaging, a misdemeanor. The charges stem from an incident on April 2, 2024, when Lewis fired a gun at a vehicle occupied by multiple people near Lincoln Street and Cleveland Avenue. No one was injured.
At the time, Lewis told investigators he believed the other driver was reaching for a weapon and claimed self-defense. The case moved through Oberlin Municipal Court before being bound over to Lorain County Common Pleas Court.
As part of the plea agreement, a firearms specification that could have triggered a mandatory prison sentence was dismissed, and Lewis agreed to forfeit the 9mm Taurus handgun used in the shooting.
Judge Giovanna Bremke accepted the plea and ordered a presentence investigation. Lewis’ GPS monitoring requirement was lifted following the court’s decision, though no formal sentencing agreement was made.