COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The Ohio man charged with killing one person and firing at cars, houses and a school is expected to plead guilty to manslaughter Tuesday.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that lawyers for Charles A. McCoy Jr. met Monday with Judge Charles Schneider to discuss the plea.
McCoy faces up to 10 years in prison for manslaughter and could receive a much longer sentence if the judge gives him consecutive terms on other charges. Schneider has reportedly said that he would recommend McCoy serve his sentence in a psychiatric prison facility.
McCoy's trial on a murder charge ended in a hung jury after his lawyers argued that he should be acquitted because he has suffered for years from paranoid schizophrenia. Franklin County (Ohio) Prosecutor Ron O'Brien had said that he would not seek the death penalty at any subsequent trial because jurors would not agree to it.
Gail Knisley, a passenger in a car on I-270, was the only person hit in a series of 12 sniper attacks. But prosecutors argue that McCoy acted methodically during the yearlong shooting spree and that he showed that he knew his actions were wrong by fleeing to Las Vegas.
