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Convicted Murderer Faces Two Additional Trials in Ohio County

File Photo Convicted murderer Dallas Acoff testifies during his trial in Ohio County Circuit Court in September.

WHEELING — Convicted murderer Dallas Michael Acoff could face life in prison now that the Ohio County Prosecutor’s Office has filed a recidivist information against him based on two prior felony convictions.

“When the prosecutor does that, the prosecutor is saying that a defendant who has recently been convicted of a felony had one or more prior felonies,” said Prosecutor Scott Smith.

A trial on the recidivist information must occur before Acoff is sentenced for his Sept. 30 second-degree murder conviction, and four other convictions. A jury convicted him last month in the shooting death of Lemroy Coleman, 33, of Wheeling, that occurred during a shootout on Oct. 8, 2015, outside the American Legion Post 89 bar in East Wheeling.

Acoff faces a determinate sentence of 10-40 years in prison on the murder charge, said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Shawn Turak. However, the new recidivism action could increase his second-degree murder sentence to life in prison, with a chance for parole after 15 years served, Smith and Turak said.

Acoff’s other Sept. 30 convictions were on one count of felony malicious assault, and three counts of felony wanton endangerment. He faces up to five years on each of those convictions.

A pretrial hearing on the recidivist information is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 16, and the trial is set for 9 a.m. Jan. 5, Turak said.

During that trial, Turak will try to prove that Acoff has two prior felony convictions: conspiracy to distribute cocaine base, a federal conviction from Aug. 24, 2011; and escaping from custody, also a federal offense, from April 7, 2014.

Acoff has yet another trial scheduled based on the fourth count of his six-count May indictment, a felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon charge. It was a charge the jury did not consider during the murder trial that ended Sept. 30. That pre-trial hearing is set for 10 a.m. Dec. 8, with the trial set for 9 a.m. Dec. 21.

Those forthcoming hearings and trials are all before Ohio County Circuit Court Judge David Sims, Smith said. Turak is the prosecutor.

Regarding the shootout, two other men pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to the felony of wanton endangerment involving a firearm, and both are out of jail after having served their time, Turak said.

Rocco Pasquale Pandoli of Cleveland was sentenced to one year, and had to spend 163 days in jail before he was released, Turak said. He is on probation through April 20. And Michael Angelo Johnson, of Wheeling, who drove Acoff away from the scene, pleaded guilty March 15, and was released from jail that day, Turak said. His house arrest ended last month.

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