Keating sentencing set for next week

Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 21, 2001

Elizabeth Keating, who pleaded guilty in June to attempted murder in shooting her business partner Debra Dickens, will face sentencing next week.

Saturday, July 21, 2001

Elizabeth Keating, who pleaded guilty in June to attempted murder in shooting her business partner Debra Dickens, will face sentencing next week.

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Mrs. Keating is scheduled to appear before visiting Judge Everett Burton in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court on July 25 at 9:30 a.m., county prosecutor J.B. Collier Jr.’s office said.

The sentencing date follows a pre-sentencing investigation ordered by Judge Burton.

Mrs. Keating will face a mandatory three years in prison for using a firearm in a crime, and could face dozens more years on felony charges of attempted murder and theft of Ironton Band Boosters money.

She switched her plea June 26 from not guilty by reason of insanity to guilty. After that hearing, Mrs. Keating issued a written statement in which she apologized for the Jan. 2 shooting.

Defense attorney Mark McCown has said Mrs. Keating suffered from a "severe mental defect" at the time, and likely will ask for a minimum sentence for that reason as well as because she is a first-time offender.

The defense and prosecution discussed sentencing, but did not agree, Collier said.

However, the state still considers the matter serious and will likely ask for more than the minimum sentence, he indicated after the June hearing.

Ms. Dickens and the band boosters have also been invited to present victim impact statements at the sentencing.

In addition to prison time, Mrs. Keating faces a maximum fine of $20,000 on the attempted murder charge and fines as much as $2,500 for each of nine theft counts. She may also be ordered to repay the missing band boosters money.

As part of an agreement between prosecutors and the defense, Mrs. Keating will not face court action on allegations that she also misappropriated money from M&M Realty – the company that she and Ms. Dickens partnered.