Man pleads to lesser charge

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Jason M. Delgado

By Peter H. Milliken

Under the agreement, the defendant would serve 11 years in prison.

YOUNGSTOWN — A man charged in a fatal July 19 shooting outside a Poland Avenue bar has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter with a firearm specification.

Jason Delgado, who was originally charged with aggravated murder in the death of Ricardo P. Moctezuma, entered his plea Wednesday before Visiting Judge Charles J. Bannon of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Delgado also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder and one count of felonious assault, both pertaining to women wounded by gunfire, and to one count of felonious assault pertaining to a woman who was cut with a beer bottle.

The prosecution and defense agreed that Delgado would serve three years for the gun specification, five years for voluntary manslaughter, and three years for attempted murder, all consecutive, for a total of 11 years.

Three-year terms for the felonious assaults would be concurrent with each other and concurrent with the voluntary manslaughter sentence.

Sentencing will be at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 10. If the judge adopts the agreed-upon sentence, it will be nonappealable. Delgado, 25, of Hammaker Street, will be on parole for five years after he leaves prison.

The shooting occurred outside the El Tropical bar around 1:50 a.m. after a fight inside the business. Police found Moctezuma, 25, of Burlington Street, in the parking lot bleeding from the head.

The original aggravated murder charge said Delgado killed Moctezuma “purposely and with prior calculation and design.” The reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter says the slaying was committed “in a sudden fit of rage” brought on by “serious provocation” from the victim.

Robert E. Bush Jr., chief of the criminal division in the county prosecutor’s office, said he agreed to the plea deal because witnesses gave different accounts of events; physical evidence suggests the possibility of a second shooter at the scene; identification of who shot the deceased is limited; and alleged victims have been reluctant to come forward.

“I think we could have shown that the victim was an aggressor. He came at the defendant,” said Delgado’s lawyer, Thomas E. Zena. “Our opinion is there were definitely two shooters” because two different calibers of bullets were found and logged as evidence in the case, he added.

milliken@vindy.com