By Sharon Coolidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Trey Shepard was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison for kidnapping and aggravated robbery.

Trey Shepard will celebrate his 17th birthday today preparing to go to Madison Correctional Facility, an adult prison in London, Ohio.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh accepted the Madisonville teen's guilty plea Thursday on charges of kidnapping and aggravated robbery, then sentenced him to nine years in prison.

Shepard robbed two men at gunpoint in Clifton, taking a combined $700. In both instances Shepard stole the men's ATM cards, forced them into vehicles at gunpoint, then drove from ATM to ATM to get cash. One man was shot in the neck with a pellet gun.

For weeks, Hamilton County prosecutors offered Shepard a plea deal that would put him in prison for nine years in exchange for a guilty plea. He repeatedly rejected their offer, despite advice to the contrary from his mother and attorney Carl Lewis. The maximum sentence allowed under law for the crimes is 46 years.

When Shepard appeared before Marsh on Wednesday, he said he wanted to take the case to trial.

"What is 17 plus nine?" Marsh asked Shepard.

"26," he responded.

"What is 17 plus 46?" Marsh then asked.

"63," Shepard said.

"If you decide to roll the dice, what you are facing is walking out of prison at age 63," Marsh said. "Once you leave this room, the plea deal is gone forever."

She pointed out the state had pictures, witness accounts and victims ready to testify. That's when Shepard took the deal.

Shepard has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Cincinnati Public Schools and Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis, saying his civil rights had been violated while held in the county jail because there were no educational opportunities for teens. That case is pending.

He didn't speak at the hearing, but his mother apologized to the victims, both of whom attended the hearing.

E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com