VIROLA MURDER TRIAL Judge sentences killer to 11 years in prison

Two men died and one was injured in the November 2000 shooting.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Albert Virola said it was self-defense that caused him to pull out a gun and shoot three people outside his house Thanksgiving Day 2000.
"I was protecting myself," Virola told Judge Jack Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. "I was put in a life and death situation."
Judge Durkin sentenced Virola to 11 years in prison Thursday, and said there is enough evidence to give Virola's story merit.
"There was more than one gun out there that night, there is no doubt about that," Judge Durkin said. "The sad thing is that we've lost two young men and we're about to lose another [to prison]."
What happened
Ervin C. May Jr., 19, and Kendall Jones, 23, were killed in the gunfight. A third man, Robert J. Collier of East Evergreen Avenue, was shot but survived. He was 27 at the time.
Authorities said the shooting was the result of a dispute over a gun the victims had taken from Virola two days earlier. The night before Thanksgiving, someone shot the front of Jones' house.
Virola believed that Jones blamed him for the house shooting, though he denied doing it, and feared that Jones would try to kill him in retaliation.
When the victims pulled up outside Virola's house on Thanksgiving morning, Virola went outside to talk to them. Defense attorney John Dixon said Virola saw one of the men in the car pull out a gun, which is when he pulled his own gun and started firing.
Judge Durkin said pretrial evidence showed that one of the three men in the car did have a gun, though it's never been established which one.
Parents' reaction
May's parents, Ervin May Sr. and Sherry Sellers, said they were not satisfied with the sentence, which was recommended in a plea agreement.
"Eleven years is not enough for my son's life," Sellers said.
Lori Shells-Conne, assistant prosecutor, said she got the family's approval before entering the agreement in March.
Virola was indicted in December 2000 on two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and three firearm specifications. In March 2003, the murder charges were reduced to voluntary manslaughter, to which Virola pleaded guilty along with the attempted murder charge.
Judge Durkin sentenced Virola to eight years on each count and ordered that the sentences run at the same time.
Virola also pleaded guilty to a firearm specification, which carries a mandatory three-year sentence.
bjackson@vindy.com