Judge: Defendants in shooting cases lucky nobody killed

Two men heard the same message Thursday as they were sentenced for their involvement in separate shooting incidents in Norwich.

Judge Susan B. Handy told Richard David, 24, and Andrew Aviles, 22, they are lucky nobody was killed, or they would be facing murder charges.

The judge sentenced David to two years and one day in prison and 30 months of special parole for a Sept. 29, 2008, drive-by shooting into a crowd of people in the area of 25 Broadway. David was not the shooter, but he was in the car, and the state believes the gun passed through his hands before the incident, according to prosecutor John P. Gravalec-Pannone.

"One of the shots came within 12 inches of a man sitting outside a laundromat smoking," Pannone said.

The shooter, Corey Wynn, is serving a four-year prison sentence. The case of a third defendant, Merzilas Braboy, is pending.

The judge sentenced Aviles to 16 months in prison and three years probation for his role in an April 25, 2009, shooting between two cars in area of Tenth and Prospect streets in the Greeneville section of Norwich. Nobody was injured. Attorney Thomas Simones called on Aviles' brother, wife, and pastor Johnny Burns of the New Life Church in Ledyard to speak on Aviles' behalf as he argued for a shorter sentence than the three-year stint recommended by the state. The judge agreed to reduce the sentence after telling Aviles how lucky he is that nobody was killed.

"We would be talking about spending the rest of your life in jail," she said.

The case of Aviles' co-defendant, Reginald Payton, is pending.