Man gets 13-year term for homicide in his home

The prosecutor recommended the maximum sentence.

YOUNGSTOWN — Allen K. Frost got the maximum sentence — 13 years in prison — in the shooting death of Gregory Sopher on Oct. 27.

Sopher, of Canfield, was shot after losing a bet on a video game.

On Friday, Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court adhered to the sentencing recommendation of Robert J. Andrews, assistant county prosecutor, and sent Frost, 37, of Crandall Avenue, to prison for 10 years for the homicide and three consecutive years for a firearm specification.

Frost had originally been facing a murder charge, which alleged he purposely killed Sopher. But a jury convicted him last month of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, which states that the death occurred after provocation from the victim.

Andrews said Frost shot Sopher, 18, in the head with a .38-caliber revolver at close range and deliberately killed him after Sopher lost a bet on a video game to Frost in Frost’s residence.

Frost shot Sopher because he took offense after Sopher inquired why he was missing all of his money, not just the $50 he had lost in the bet, Andrews said.

However, Martin E. Yavorcik, the defense lawyer, said Sopher, who had gone to Frost’s residence to buy and use drugs, became extremely upset and belligerent after losing the game and challenged Frost to fight.

Frost, who was weakened by a stroke, wanted none of that, ordered Sopher to leave and pulled the pistol, which discharged, Yavorcik said. Frost did not intend to kill Sopher, Yavorcik told the jury during the trial.

The defense will appeal the sentence, Yavorcik said Friday.

If Frost had been convicted of the original murder charge with the gun specification, he would have faced 18 years to life in prison.