Vet who shot moviegoer in '08 pleads guilty

The Iraq War Army veteran who curiously garnered positive international headlines for shooting a noisy fellow moviegoer during "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" on Christmas 2008 pleaded guilty yesterday to aggravated assault and possessing an instrument of crime.

James Cialella, 31, of South Philadelphia, said little during the court hearing. Common Pleas Judge Genece E. Brinkley set March 2 as the sentencing date for Cialella, who is out on bail.

Under state sentencing guidelines Cialella could be jailed for nine to 16 months, but defense attorney Gregory Pagano said that he would ask the judge for probation or house arrest based on his client's service as a sergeant in the Army, that he recently was married and graduated from college, and that he has "virtually" no criminal record.

Cialella, he said, shot Woffard Lomax Jr. in the arm at the United Artists Riverview Plaza theater, on Columbus Boulevard, believing that he was acting in self-defense.

"Originally, it was reported that [Cialella] was the person who threw popcorn on someone and instructed someone to be quiet," Pagano told reporters, maintaining that that was inaccurate. "In fact, there's a lot of evidence that my client was seated about 10 rows or more in front of where the victims or complaints were."

Pagano said that Cialella went to help after a fight broke out in the back of the theater and a woman shouted that her husband was being hit. "Yo, he had enough - leave him alone," Cialella said, according to Pagano. The Army veteran was then attacked by several men, Pagano said.

"At one point my client pulled out his firearm and shot once in what he thought was self-defense," the lawyer said.

Cialella's gun was legal because he had a permit to carry the weapon issued by North Carolina, where he was stationed at Fort Bragg, Pagano said.

During Cialella's preliminary hearing, on Dec. 31, 2008, Lomax testified that he began fighting with a man who told him and his family to be quiet and that Cialella threw popcorn at him before opening fire.