Man charged in girlfriend's death pleads guilty to manslaughter

YOUNGSTOWN -- A man charged with killing his girlfriend last June has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Jonathan L. Stone, 34, of West Delason Avenue, appeared before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to enter his plea at a hearing Monday.
The indictment against Stone was amended from murder with a firearm specification to voluntary manslaughter with a firearm specification, meaning he used a gun to commit the crime. Stone withdrew his earlier plea of innocent.
Stone will be sentenced later. Martin P. Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor, said his office will recommend the maximum sentence of 13 years in prison. The firearm specification carries a mandatory three-year prison term. Stone could receive from three to 10 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.
Police said Stone shot Sharon May, 31, of Rosewood Avenue, on June 15 in the front yard of Stone's Delason Avenue home. She died the next day at St. Elizabeth Health Center. Police said the bullet entered her right bicep and then her chest cavity.
Police said the suspected weapon was a .32-caliber revolver.
Stone and May had been drinking and possibly using drugs when they got into a fight that escalated, Desmond said.