Woman sentenced in murder

Four people are now serving prison time in the robbery and slaying case.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Andrea Kimble said she never planned on her friend, Matthew Saunders, being hurt, even though a prosecutor said evidence showed she was the mastermind in a plan to rob the Youngstown man.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Kimble, 22, of Green Acres Drive, Liberty, to 21 years to life in prison at a hearing Tuesday.
The robbery of Saunders, 40, of Youngstown, ended with him being shot dead in a parking lot at Pyatt and Erie streets on the city's South Side on Aug. 16, 2005.
Kimble was one of four defendants in the case and the last to be sentenced.
She was convicted in a September jury trial on charges of complicity to murder and complicity to aggravated robbery, both with firearm specifications.
Apology
Kimble, speaking before sentence was pronounced, said she apologized for all that had happened.
"I think about Matthew every day," she said, breaking into tears and adding that she had never wished that he come to harm.
Robert J. Anderson, assistant county prosecutor, said Kimble was the mastermind of the plan to rob Saunders by first arranging for him to meet a woman for sex.
She also devised the robbery plan, but there was no evidence to indicate she was aware that Saunders would be harmed, Anderson said.
Defense lawyer John B. Juhasz said his client plans to appeal her case.
There was no evidence that she masterminded this case, and no one knew that one of the robbers, Marcus Thomas, was going to shoot Saunders, he said.
Other defendants
Thomas, 21, of East Warren Avenue, pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated robbery with a firearm specification and is serving a total of 23 years to life in prison.
The other defendants, Laticia Alexander, 30, of East Warren Avenue, and Jawan Johnson, 26, of East Judson Avenue, are also both serving time in prison.
Alexander pleaded guilty to complicity to aggravated robbery and was given seven years. Johnson pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with a firearm specification and is serving 13 years.
Judge Sweeney gave Kimble the mandatory sentences of 15 years to life on the complicity to murder charge and the 3-year consecutive firearm specification. She added 3 more years on the complicity to aggravated robbery count, to be served consecutive to the first two sentences, for a minimum of 21 years.
gwin@vindy.com