A Westerville woman was given a fine and jail time Friday in Delaware Municipal Court in connection with an April fight that turned into a shooting in Orange Township.
Kayle Cantrell, 20, appeared before Delaware Municipal Court Judge Marianne Hemmeter Friday morning to be sentenced for a misdemeanor charge of assault and a misdemeanor theft charge.
Assistant Delaware County Prosecutor Mark Sleeper told Hemmeter the charges were part of a plea agreement in Delaware County Common Pleas Court. Sleeper said that on April 13, Cantrell was with some friends while having an argument over text and phone calls with her ex-girlfriend, 19-year-old Maura Burlew.
As the argument escalated, Cantrell and her friends met up with Burlew and some of her friends at a park on Blue Holly Drive and a fight ensued.
During the fight, Orange Township 19-year-old Pierce Yurkowski-Gray was shot several times. He has since been released from the hospital.
Sleeper said during the fight, Cantrell assaulted Burlew’s friend, a 17-year-old Orange Township girl, and stole a phone belonging to 18-year-old Riley Smittle. Sleeper said originally Cantrell had been facing a second-degree felony robbery charge in common pleas court but as the investigation continued they learned that robbery would not be an appropriate charge because the assault and theft were against separate people.
Sleeper filed a motion in August to dismiss the felony case and said that Cantrell would be pleading guilty to misdemeanor theft and assault.
At the hearing on Friday, Cantrell told Hemmeter that Burlew and her friends were saying very hurtful things to her over the phone but said she never wanted there to be a fight.
“I definitely regret everything that happened,” Cantrell told Hemmeter. Cantrell said she has never done anything like this before and is trying to move on with her life. Cantrell added she has just started college and a new job.
Hemmeter said she was not naive and believed Cantrell knew there would be a fight.
“Stop that nonsense because I don’t buy it,” Hemmeter said. “I don’t think for a moment that two car loads [of teenagers] wanted to meet up for a polite discussion.”
Hemmeter ordered that Cantrell serve 45 days in the Delaware County Jail and pay a $200 fine plus court costs. Additionally, Cantrell was sentenced to a year of intensive supervision after her release from jail and could face additional jail time if she violates terms of her probation.
Cantrell was credited 28 days in jail for time she spent in the Delaware County Jail when she was originally arrested on April 14 before she posted bail in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.
Cantrell was in the Delaware County Jail Friday and had begun to serve her sentence.
Cantrell is the first of three individuals to be sentenced in connection with the fight.
According to prosecutors, Isiah Steele, 19, of Columbus, and Terrance Jewell, also 19, of Columbus, also took part in the fight. Prosecutors say Steele is the one who shot Yurkowski-Gray. Steele is still charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, which carries a firearm specification that could add additional prison time if Steele is convicted; improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation/in a school safety zone, a second-degree felony; receiving stolen property, a fourth-degree felony; and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.
He is scheduled to stand trial on Sept. 20.
Jewell entered a guilty plea to a charge of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, at a hearing on Aug. 22. At the hearing he admitted to assaulting Burlew during the fight. He will be sentenced on Sept. 19.
