Killer gets plea deal in ’08 shooting case

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — The defendant in a fatal shooting last June has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Damon Damous, 26, of West Marion Avenue, who was originally charged with the murder of Lawrence E. Anderson II, pleaded guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter with a firearm specification.

Damous entered his plea before Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will sentence him at 1:30 p.m. March 16.

Anderson, 22, of East Pasadena Avenue, was fatally shot June 11, 2008, at a residence in the 200 block of Clarencedale Avenue, the prosecution said in a court filing. Anderson’s mother reported him missing the next day.

Anderson’s body was found last June 30 in the basement of a vacant West Glenaven Avenue apartment complex. Four medium-caliber bullet slugs were removed from Anderson’s body during the autopsy, two in his pelvis and two in his trunk.

Damous was jailed in Akron on an unrelated charge when Youngstown police issued the murder warrant for him last July 1.

Jennifer M. Paris, assistant county prosecutor, called for Damous to receive the maximum sentence for the homicide — 10 years for the involuntary manslaughter, plus the mandatory consecutive three years for the gun specification, for a total of 13 years in prison.

The minimum sentence would be three years for the involuntary manslaughter, plus three years for the gun specification, for a total of six years in prison.

Had he been convicted of the original murder charge, Damous would have faced 15 years to life in prison for the murder, plus three years for the gun specification, for a total of 18 years to life in prison.

Paris told the judge the prosecution agreed to the plea deal to obtain a conviction without putting the victim’s family through the hardship of a trial.

A key prosecution witness, who gave police a detailed statement about the shooting shortly after it occurred, has recanted that statement, the judge said in court.