Man pleads guilty in drive-by shooting

The man who fired the fatal shot got 35 years to life in prison.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The driver of a sport-utility vehicle from which a man was fatally shot a year ago on the city’s East Side has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.

Jason O. Clay, 24, of Winona Avenue, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a gun specification late Thursday afternoon in the June 26, 2007, death of Terrance E. Brown, 27, of South Truesdale Avenue, who the prosecution said was an innocent bystander.

Exactly a year after the drive-by shooting in the 1400 block of Woodcrest Avenue, Clay entered his plea before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will sentence him at a later date.

Martin P. Desmond, assistant county prosecutor, recommended that Clay be sentenced to nine years for the manslaughter, plus a mandatory three consecutive years for the gun specification, for a total of 12 years in prison.

The prosecution agreed to reduce the charges from complicity to aggravated murder with a five-year gun specification because he was the driver, not the shooter; because witnesses said someone fired at the SUV before the fatal shooting; and because Clay is cooperating with the prosecution on two other criminal cases, Desmond said.

Last December, Judge Evans sentenced Clay’s cousin, Jonathan L. Clay, 24, of Winona Avenue, who fired the fatal shot, to 35 years to life in prison after a jury convicted him of aggravated murder with a gun specification.

Brown died instantly after being hit in the neck by a shotgun blast from the SUV.

The Clays were arrested last July in East Liverpool. Youngstown and East Liverpool police investigated the case.