Man sentenced to more than 5 years in prison

A Springfield man was sentenced Tuesday to five and a half years in prison for his alleged role in a 2011 shooting. However, credit for time served will cut that prison term nearly in half.

Anthony Hottenstein Jr., 21, was sentenced to four years in prison for tampering with evidence with a weapons specification and 18 months on a charge of improper use of a firearm.

Clark County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard O’Neill ordered that those sentences run consecutively, which Prosecutor Bill Merrell had requested.

Hottenstein and his brother, Jordan, were acquitted on murder charges last month in the death of 19-year-old Jamez Hall. During the trial, the brothers admitted they were going with Hall to complete a drug deal on July 23, 2011.

However, Jordan Hottenstein testified that while driving on Old Mill Road, Hall tried to rob him and displayed a gun.

Jon Paul Rion, Anthony Hottenstein’s attorney, argued he had to use deadly force to protect himself. It saved him from facing a possible life sentence for murder, Rion said.

“A person’s safety is protected in their vehicle as much as in their house,” Rion said. “The lesson to be learned here is don’t attack somebody in their car.”

Hottenstein will receive credit for time served because he’s been incarcerated in the Clark County Jail since July 2011. Rion added that when his client goes before the parole board and pleads his case, it’s possible he could be released sometime in the next six months.

The brothers’ father, Anthony Hottenstein Sr., also faces a felony perjury charge for allegedly lying on the stand during the trial.

He testified he was following his sons in another car when the shooting occurred, but denied he was there when he went before a Clark County grand jury.

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