The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Former student sentenced for bringing gun to school
The Lorain High School student who admitted to bringing a gun to school was sentenced to 30 days in jail Aug. 31.
Codsh’e Berger, 18, of Lorain, pleaded guilty July 2 to carrying concealed weapons and illegal conveyance or possession of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance in school safety zone at Lorain High, 2600 Ashland Ave.
Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge D. Chris Cook announced a sentence of 12 months on each count, but told Berger he would grant judicial release after 30 days.
Berger also will serve a year of community control following his release.
Defense attorney Robert Forestall said his client has no criminal record and had brought the gun to school May 17 for protection.
“The intent behind it was for protection, not to incite violence, your honor,” Forestall told Cook. “I think that should be stated. He wasn’t trying to hurt anyone else.”
Berger, who was not accompanied by a parent in court, echoed the same points.
“I heard around school that they were going to stab me that day, and I didn’t have nobody but myself, so I had to protect myself with the gun,” he said.
“I just did what I had to do to protect myself and protect my life.”
During the hearing, Cook said there was a “small part” of him that understood Berger’s intention and desire to protect himself from harm.
But there were a number of other ways he could have accomplished that without bringing a gun to school, he said.
Cook said he’d initially intended to sentence Berger to community control for the offenses, but that changed when he learned more details of the case before the hearing began.
“I don’t like to make examples of defendants,” he said. “I really don’t think that’s fair in most cases and I don’t like to send messages with my sentences because I don’t really think that’s my job.
“This is a case where I want to send a message to the community, and this is a case where I want to make you an example of. The message I want to send to our community is that if somebody brings a loaded firearm into a school building in Lorain County, in my courtroom, you’re going to go to prison because I can’t have people bring loaded weapons into schools.”
Cook acknowledged that Berger complied with police admitting what he did and that was a factor in the sentence.
Berger is scheduled to turn himself in to the Lorain County Jail on Sept. 7 or face a stiffer penalty.