MAHONING COUNTY Judge issues sentence in manslaughter case

The man spent more than six years in a psychiatric institution instead of jail.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 21-year-old city man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for robbing and killing another man six years ago.
Rodney Lundy of Covington Street was sentenced this week by Judge Robert Lisotto of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He had pleaded guilty in October to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated robbery.
Assistant prosecutor Robert Andrews said Lundy shot and killed 23-year-old Leon Tate in March 1997 at Tate's apartment at the Westlake Terrace housing complex on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Lundy then turned his gun toward Tate's girlfriend and robbed her of money. Lundy then made the woman take money from Tate's pockets and give it to him, Andrews said.
Deemed mentally incompetent
Lundy was 15 at the time and his case was bound over to common pleas court for trial as an adult. He was indicted in 1997 for aggravated murder and two counts of aggravated robbery. He was later deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial after Judge Lisotto reviewed three psychological reports.
Two reports said Lundy had mild mental retardation and was unable to participate in a trial or assist in his defense. The third report said Lundy could proceed through the trial as long as his lawyer used simple explanations.
Lundy was sent to a Columbus mental institution for psychiatric treatment and was restored to competency earlier this year, Andrews said.
In a plea agreement, the aggravated murder charge was amended to involuntary manslaughter, for which Judge Lisotto sentenced Lundy to 10 years in prison. The judge imposed a mandatory three-year sentence for a firearm specification, which means a gun was used to commit the crimes.
Lundy was sentenced to seven years in prison for each aggravated robbery charge, but Judge Lisotto ordered that those terms be concurrent with each other.
By law, Lundy was given credit for all the time he's spent in the psychiatric institution, which amounts to more than six years.
bjackson@vindy.com