Two killers sentenced in separate slayings
One killing was related to robbery; the other involved a feud.
STAFF REPORT
WARREN — The defendant in one of two homicides during summer of 2007 in the North Park Avenue area of Warren has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Steven D. Brown, 30, of Aris Street Northwest, pleaded guilty in March in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to killing Johnny Williamson, 24, in Williamson’s 1535 North Park Ave. home Aug. 23, 2007.
Brown was convicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, being a felon in possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence.
Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, recommended Brown get 18 years in prison, but Judge Peter Kontos gave him 20 years.
Williamson apparently knew Brown and allowed him into his home during the daylight killing, Becker said. Brown probably used Williamson’s gun to kill him, Becker said.
But other than that, the circumstances surrounding the killing are not determined, Becker said.
Both men had been to prison. Williamson’s conviction was drug-related, Becker added.
The robbery and burglary charges were filed because Brown had Williamson’s X-Box game system in his possession when he was captured later in Hermitage, Pa., Becker said.
If Brown had been convicted of murder, he could have gone to prison for life.
In the other North Park slaying, Mario Q. Sellers, 24, of Austin Avenue Southwest in Warren, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in July for killing Joseph D. Daniel, 33, of Palmyra Road Southwest, outside Benji Brown’s Bar and Grill July 29, 2007.
Benji Brown’s Bar is less than a half-mile north of the home where Williamson died on the north end of Warren.
Becker said that the 2:13 a.m. shooting at the bar occurred because Daniel, Sellers and others were feuding over a robbery committed against Sellers about a year before Daniel’s death.