After pleading guilty to murder, woman gets 15-years-to-life term

YOUNGSTOWN -- The former Helena Avenue woman charged in the April 23, 2001, shooting death of Achilles Cummings will spend at least 15 years in prison for the crime.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Damita Lee on Tuesday to 15 years to life for murder, 18 months for arson and 10 years for burglary.
Rob Andrews, a Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, said Lee faced a sentence of 25 years to life if a jury convicted her of aggravated murder.
Lee pleaded guilty to murder, arson and burglary Tuesday before attorneys finished jury selection in her murder trial. Jury selection began Monday afternoon.
The sentences for burglary and arson will be served concurrently with the murder charge.
Police said Lee, who was 27 in 2001, shot Cummings to death. Cummings' body was found around 5:15 a.m. April 23, 2001, in a burned-out car at Chicago and Earle avenues on the city's South Side.
Lee has been in the Mahoning County Jail since her arrest in April 2001, and will receive credit on her sentence for 1,651 days served.