Dayton man gets up to 9 years for voluntary manslaughter in 'targeted attack'
May 14—A Dayton man will spend nearly a decade in prison for a deadly February 2023 shooting that police said appeared to be a "targeted attack."
Keanthony Diantae Strickland, 34, was sentenced May 3 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Elizabeth Ellis to seven to nine years in prison, according to sentencing documents filed last week.
The gunshot victim was identified as 38-year-old Al Jaheem Brown by Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger.
Strickland in January pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter via a bill of information. His sentencing was delayed because he filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. He withdrew that motion earlier this month to proceed with sentencing, court documents show.
Strickland was ordered to pay restitution for funeral and burial costs and was designated a violent offender, which will require him to register his name, address and vehicle once he is released.
Dayton police and medics were dispatched around 12:10 a.m. Feb. 20, 2023, to a report of a shooting in the 2700 block of Oxford Avenue.
A witness heard two men screaming and then a gunshot. A 911 caller said a man was lying in the street, according to Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center records.
"Homicide detectives were requested to the scene to further the investigation," Dayton police Lt. Steven Bauer said previously. "This does not appear to be a random act of violence, but a targeted attack."
Strickland was sitting inside his Chevrolet Malibu with a woman when Brown, the woman's boyfriend, showed up and began speaking with her. Strickland then got out of the car and began arguing with Brown. The men began shoving each other when the woman got between them to try to separate them when Brown pushed his girlfriend out from between them, according to an affidavit filed in Dayton Municipal Court.
"Strickland at this time pulls out a gun from his pocket, that (the woman) knew he had, and fired at Brown. Brown is shot three times in the back," the document stated.
Strickland then drove away in his car, which was found later in the day in a parking lot in the 1600 block of McArthur Avenue, according to the affidavit.
Strickland later turned himself in to police and was booked into the Montgomery County Jail.
Two counts each of murder and felonious assault, plus single counts of discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises and having a weapon while under disability were dismissed as part of his plea agreement.
