Man gets 12-year term after manslaughter plea

The prosecution dropped a felonious-assault charge.

YOUNGSTOWN — A city man is going to prison for 12 years after pleading guilty to a voluntary manslaughter charge in a Jan. 2, 2006, slaying.

Judge James C. Evans imposed the sentence Wednesday on John A. Weaver, 30, of Hawthorne Street, in the shooting death of Arlis R. Casey, 35, of East Florida Avenue. Casey died on Weaver’s porch after being shot in the head while he was confronting Weaver about a burglary he believed Weaver had committed earlier that day at the Casey residence, police reports said.

The Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge sentenced Weaver to nine years for the manslaughter and three consecutive years for the gun specification, for a total of 12 years. A five-year sentence for being a felon with a gun and an eight-year term for burglary will be served concurrently with the manslaughter sentence.

The prosecution dropped a felonious-assault charge that alleged Weaver shot Casey’s brother, Waddell, 29, of Stewart Avenue, in the hand in the same confrontation.

Slain later in 2006

Waddell Casey, who had been expected to testify had Weaver gone to trial, was fatally shot in the head in October 2006 in his living room. Charles Jones, 30, of Lincoln Park Drive, was charged with murder in that slaying, for which no motive was given. Jones faces a jury trial Nov. 13 before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney.

Weaver was initially charged with murder in Arlis Casey’s death, but the prosecution let him plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, a lesser offense, which says there was provocation from the victim. Witnesses agreed that Arlis Casey was armed and wearing a bulletproof vest when he went to confront Weaver, said Martin P. Desmond, assistant county prosecutor.

Weaver’s sentence is nonappealable because it was agreed to by the prosecution and defense, Desmond said. Weaver will get credit for 549 days he has already been jailed awaiting court action on his case.