An East Toledo man pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to reduced charges for a Sept. 4 fatal shooting and was immediately sentenced to prison for at least 20 years.
James Caulton, Jr., 40, had been charged with murder for the death of Hashaan Price, 20, who was shot at Dorr and Ewing streets in central Toledo and died at Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center.
He pleaded guilty Thursday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court before Judge Dean Mandros to first-degree manslaughter, third-degree having weapons while under disability, and third-degree tampering with evidence.
Judge Mandros then sentenced him, as agreed to by the defense and prosecutors, to a maximum combined term of 20 to 25½ years, including a three-year firearm specification attached to the manslaughter count.
Caulton, of the 100 block of Ravine Park Village, turned himself in four days after the shooting, and police said the men had been involved in an argument. In court Thursday, defense lawyer Gretchen DeBacker said there had been some consideration of mounting a self-defense case in the incident.
Had the case gone to trial, testimony would have shown both men were intoxicated and engaged in a “heated conversation,” she said, and Caulton “chose to shoot Mr. Price when he believed he was under threat.”
Judge Mandros remarked, however, that a self-defense argument “might have been a challenge” because of the fatal bullet’s trajectory and the number of shots fired. That number was not disclosed in court. The Lucas County coroner’s autopsy found Mr. Price died of a gunshot wound to the right arm and chest.
The judge gave Caulton credit for his apologetic remarks Thursday as he turned to first face Mr. Price’s family and then his own, including his wife, with whom he had been raising three children.
“I’m sorry for what I did, and I wish I could take it back. ... I hope y’all can forgive me one day for what I did,” Caulton told his victim’s friends and relatives before turning to his side of the gallery and lamenting that he would be leaving them “again” to go to prison.
“I don’t often feel this way, but I feel your apology was genuine, that your remorse is genuine,” the judge said later.
While that didn’t change the families’ loss, he told Caulton, “at least you were man enough” to face them.
Justyce Meredith, who was eight months pregnant with Mr. Price’s son when he was killed, said not having his father will affect the boy and Mr. Price had been “very excited to be a father.”
He and Caulton had clashed in the past but with peaceful resolutions, so “it’s just confusing to us that this particular altercation turned out the way it did,” Ms. Meredith said.
“My son doesn’t have his father, and I wouldn’t want his [Caulton’s] children to not have theirs,” she said.
Under Ohio’s sentencing law for higher-level felonies, Caulton’s 11 years for involuntary manslaughter could be extended by up to 5-1/2 years if he misbehaves in prison.
First Published March 13, 2025, 10:13 p.m.
