Lorain man gets 3 to 4 years in prison for 2023 shooting that injured a woman

A Lorain man will serve a minimum of three years in prison after pleading guilty to reduced charges for shooting and wounding his girlfriend's daughter in the dark of an early February 2023 morning. Gilbert Soto, 51, pleaded guilty July 23 to two counts of felonious assault and one count each of having weapons under disability and tampering with evidence, all felonies, in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Judge Giovanna Bremke accepted the plea, found Soto guilty and sentenced him to 3 to 4 years in prison, with one year mandatory and to be served first for using a gun in the crime. An attempted murder charge and several firearms specifications were dismissed by the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. Soto had previously elected to have a bench trial without a jury, at which Bremke would decide his guilt or innocence. Defense attorney Kenneth Lieux said he "felt strongly" Soto didn't mean to the shoot the victim, who was the 18-year-old daughter of Soto's longtime girlfriend. The trial had been scheduled to start July 7, but the victim and a friend of hers called as witnesses failed to show up for court. Bremke issued contempt of court warrants for both women, who were taken into custody July 18 and booked into the Lorain County Jail. The women spent the weekend of July 19-20 in jail, admitted to the contempt of court allegations during a July 21 hearing and Bremke released them with time served, according to Lieux and the Prosecutor's Office. The Lorain Police Department said Soto fired his gun into the dark outside his girlfriend's house on East 38th Street in Lorain on Feb. 26, 2023, after hearing a noise outside. Soto went outside with a .380-caliber Ruger LCP handgun and fired a single shot that hit the victim, according to Lorain police. The woman had thrown a rock against the house and was bending over to pick it up and throw it again when she was hit in the abdomen, Lieux said. A convicted felon who isn't allowed to have guns, Soto fled after the shooting and tossed the gun onto a tree lawn on Gary Avenue where it was later found by police. Bremke ordered the gun forfeited to the Lorain Police Department. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.