Teens in double murder get long prison terms

If a juvenile can do the crime, he can do the time, a prosecutor says.

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The 33-years-to-life sentence for a 17-year-old for a robbery and a double murder he committed at age 16 sends a message that juveniles who commit adult crimes with guns will serve lengthy adult prison time, the prosecutor said.

“If you’re a juvenile and you commit an adult [criminal] act, you’re going to be treated like an adult and you’re going to be punished like an adult,” said Martin P. Desmond, assistant Mahoning County prosecutor.

“It’s a senseless act. The brutality of it was shocking,” Desmond said after court. “Something needs to be done with these juveniles because they are violent. They have guns, and it’s so easy to pull the trigger and kill someone.”

Adrian M. Sims, 17, of West Marion Avenue, the triggerman in the double murder behind a vacant house, will serve at least 33 years in prison.

An accomplice, Devron Pinkard Jr., 19, of Park Vista Drive, who helped him rob the two slain 16-year-olds will serve at least 20 years, Desmond said.

Adopting the prosecution’s sentencing recommendations Friday afternoon, Judge James C. Evans imposed prison terms of 33 years to life on Sims and 20 years on Pinkard.

Their pleas

Sims had pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of aggravated robbery with firearm specifications in the May 20, 2006, slayings of Troy Barlow of Breaden Street and Jaimie Helms of Cornell Street, who were both shot in the head on Park Vista Drive. Sims was bound over from juvenile court to be tried as an adult.

Pinkard pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to two counts of aggravated robbery. A small amount of marijuana, a pair of shoes and possibly a small amount of cash were taken from the victims, the prosecution said.

“What I’ve heard and what I’ve seen doesn’t deserve any mercy of the court,” Judge Evans said, noting the “viciousness” displayed “by the multiple times that these two young men were shot at very close range” and the removal of Helms’ shoes.

“I’m truly sorry from the bottom of my heart,” Sims told the victims’ families.

Attorney comments

His lawyer, John Dixon, said this was among the saddest cases he has ever seen in his 30 years of law practice. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so much human misery in one case involving four families. It’s been heart-wrenching,” Dixon said.

“None of this can bring Jaimie back ... I just ask that justice be done,” Helms’ grandmother, Esther Crum, told the judge before he sentenced Sims.

“What you took from me was a part of me I could never get back, but he will always be in my heart forever,” Rosalyn Helms, mother of Jaimie Helms, told Sims. “I would never understand why you took my child’s life, but I feel you don’t have to answer to anyone but God. The way my son suffered, you will suffer worse.”

“I hope that they get everything that they deserve,” Rochelle Barlow, Troy Barlow’s aunt, said of the defendants. “To lose a life over something that really wasn’t that important, we will be suffering for the rest of our lives ... I hope that he gets as much time as he can get for taking away someone in our family,” she said of Sims. “I hope that he suffers the way that my nephew suffered, and I hope that he does that by spending the rest of his life in jail.”