Attorney for one of defendants in postal worker case challenges U.S. death penalty

Joe Gorman

Tue, December 9, 2025 at 6:28 PM UTC

1 min read

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The attorney for one of two men facing charges in federal court for the shooting death of a postal worker in Warren has filed a motion asking that the U.S. death penalty be declared unconstitutional.

Attorney Timothy C. Ivey, representing Thomas Sledge, 44, filed the motion Monday in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio before U.S. Judge Donald C. Nugent.

Sledge and his son, Kaprise Sledge, 24, are charged with the March 2, 2024, shooting death of Jont’e Davis, 33, at Washington Street NE and Olive Avenue NE while Davis was delivering mail.

The two face charges of murder of an officer or employee of the United States and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

The government can pursue the death penalty, but has yet to tell the court if it plans to do so.

A trial date has been set for Feb. 17.

Ivey’s motion said that the death of a mail carrier was never a crime that Congress specified triggered an aggravating factor that would make his client eligible for the death penalty.

The motion also said the death penalty is unconstitutional because of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The government has yet to file a response.

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