YOUNGSTOWN Man changes mind, pleads guilty

A trial in February ended with jurors deadlocked at 11-1 in favor of conviction.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Germaine Flakes apparently decided he didn't want to go through another trial.
Instead, Flakes, 20, of East Ravenwood Avenue, pleaded guilty this week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to aggravated robbery. Police say he robbed a woman as she was making a deposit in the night depository of National City Bank on Belmont Avenue in July 2000.
A trial in February ended with a hung jury, with jurors deadlocked at 11-1 in favor of conviction. The jury deliberated nearly 12 hours over two days.
Lawyers had nearly finished selecting a jury this week for Flakes' second trial when he told his lawyer, Damian Billak, that he wanted to plead guilty.
"I think as he sat there watching the jury selection process, he was suddenly hit with the reality that he was fighting a battle he couldn't win," Billak said.
Recommended sentence
Prosecutors recommended that Flakes be sentenced to four years in prison for aggravated robbery. He will also receive a mandatory three years for using a firearm.
Judge Maureen A. Cronin ordered that a background check be done on Flakes before he is sentenced. He is being held without bond in the county jail until then.
Assistant Prosecutor Michael Maillis said the clincher was a police report, filed by Flakes some three months after the robbery. Someone broke into his house and stole a gun, which Flakes told police was the one he and another man used to rob the woman.
In his February trial, prosecutors were unable to prove that Flakes had a gun, Maillis said.
bjackson@vindy.com