Deshields

About five months shy of his 18th birthday, a York City teen was sentenced 10 to 20 years in prison for attempted homicide for the 2010 shooting of a Hanover woman in York.

The combined sentence for 17-year-old Jovon Javar DeShields, including firearms and felony assault convictions, is 12 to 24 years, Common Pleas Judge Craig Trebilcock ordered Wednesday morning.

The judge said it's unfortunate the teen, who was 15 at the time of the crime, didn't choose rehabilitation during any of his earlier run-ins with the court as a juvenile.

Trebilcock said there were "any number of forks in the road where he could have corrected his behavior."

DeShields was charged as an adult and convicted of shooting Rose Bosley in the abdomen at 1:47 a.m. Aug. 21, 2010, while she was inside her car. Bosley, 53, of Hanover, was treated for her wound at York Hospital and later released.

York City Police said Bosley drove to York City to buy crack cocaine and parked in the first block of West Maple Street. DeShields approached her, pulled a handgun from his waistband, said "remember me?" and started firing, police said.

Bosley's car was struck by several bullets and she was shot once before she was able to drive away. She told police she didn't know the name of her shooter, but that he had accused her of ripping him off in the past.

She later picked DeShields from a photo lineup.

Bosley offered a statement at the sentencing Wednesday, saying she suffered trauma from the shooting and "just watching a movie with gunfire puts my nerves on end."

She said she's thankful her window was up and that she's overweight, or the outcome of the shooting could have been worse.

'Tragic': While defense attorney Ron Gross said DeShields was "trying to be someone he's not" by living a life of crime, Trebilcock and Deputy Prosecutor David Sunday said the teen has no respect for human life and should be locked up for a long time for the safety of the community.

Sunday said it's "tragic" that DeShields will spend his 20s in state prison, but "it's also tragic that we have bullets flying through the City of York."

He said DeShields might have been only 15 at the time of the shooting, but he had already had his first gun conviction a year earlier.

Trebilcock, who stopped short of Sunday's request for 10 to 30 years in jail, said testimony showed DeShields was "cold and calculating," not a young man who had gotten caught up in the excitement of the moment.

He also sentenced DeShields to 18 months to 3 years on drug dealing charges, to be served concurrent to the other sentences.

-- Reach Christina Kauffman at ckauffma n@yorkdispatch.com.