Shooter gets 36 years for paralyzing woman, drug case
A man who admitted his role in paralyzing a woman caught in the crossfire of a gang-related shootout more than seven years ago apologized Wednesday for what he called an accident that occurred when he was young and immature.
Drakkar D. Groce, 27, asked a Franklin County judge for leniency in sentencing him for felonious assault in the shooting of Alexandria “Alix” Reese and for an unrelated drug-racketeering case.
But leniency wasn’t on the mind of Common Pleas Judge Colleen O’Donnell. She sentenced him to 28 years for the drug case and added eight years, the maximum, for the shooting. She ran the sentences consecutively for a total of 36 years.
Prosecuting and defense attorneys had recommended that the judge run the sentences concurrent to each other when Groce pleaded guilty to felonious assault in August.
“It is common practice for this court to adopt joint recommendations,” O’Donnell said. “Today, however, I cannot do that. The harm that you caused, Mr. Groce, to your victim, Miss Reese, is decidedly egregious and severe. ... It’s thoughtless and it’s absolutely reprehensible. You, Mr. Groce, must be punished for behavior like this, and others in our shared community must be discouraged from repeating it.”
Reese, then 25, was lost and driving on Atchison Street approaching Trevitt Street on the Near East Side about 11:30 p.m. on May 27, 2010, when she drove into the middle of gunfire. A bullet pierced her neck and severed her spine. She was left a quadriplegic with no motor control below her neck.
Columbus police investigated for years before indicting Groce and William R. Griffin in the shooting. Both pleaded guilty in August. Griffin, 26 was sentenced to two years in prison.
Prosecutors said Groce was a member of the Greenway Bloods in his Near East Side neighborhood and was shooting across the intersection at a man that he thought had shot at him earlier. At least 19 rounds were fired in the exchange.
Reese’s mother and stepfather attended Wednesday’s hearing. Her stepfather, Tony Cox, gave a lengthy statement detailing the life-threatening medical conditions that have kept Reese in a professional-care facility, “completely dependent upon her every breath from a machine.”
Groce turned to her family and said he is “extremely sorry for what happened to Miss Reese. ... I was 19 years old. ... I was childish, hardheaded, naive and filled with a lot of anger and frustration. ... The incident here, this was an accident. An accident. Never intentionally done.”
In his other case, Groce and two accomplices were convicted at trial in May of manufacturing, possessing and trafficking in cocaine. The jury saw video footage of the group’s own surveillance cameras that showed them cooking, processing, packaging and selling crack cocaine. Those convictions included multiple gun specifications.