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Smith pleads guilty in robbery, homicide
Another defendant will be sentenced in April for complicity.
YOUNGSTOWN — The main defendant in a March 17, 2008, robbery and homicide has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Charles E. Smith Jr., 31, of East Florida Avenue, entered his plea Wednesday morning just as jurors were about the hear opening statements from the prosecuting and defense attorneys in his trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The prosecution alleged that Smith fatally shot Demar L. Flores, 18, of Elliot Lane, in the driveway of a Rutledge Drive residence, said Robert J. Andrews, assistant county prosecutor.
The prosecutor reduced the aggravated murder charge against Smith to involuntary manslaughter, to which Smith pleaded guilty. Smith pleaded guilty as charged to aggravated robbery and to a firearm specification.
The prosecution and defense agreed Smith would serve 10 years on each charge concurrently, plus the three mandatory consecutive years for the gun specification, for a total of 13 years in prison.
Because the prosecution and defense agreed to that sentence and Judge Maureen A. Sweeney adopted it, the sentence will be non-appealable.
Andrews said he made the plea agreement with Smith because one co-defendant was refusing to testify, and another’s testimony would have been uncertain.
“The case was based upon the testimony of the three co-defendants,” Andrews said. “Without the testimony of all three of them, I believe our case was very compromised. It would have been a weak case,” he said.
Although 13 years is less than an ideal sentence from the prosecution’s perspective, Andrews explained that he didn’t want to risk an acquittal in a jury trial.
Defense lawyer J. Gerald Ingram said his client took the last-minute deal because Andrews’ plea offer had improved from his client’s perspective compared to what Andrews had offered previously.
Smith is one of four people originally indicted in this case.
A charge of complicity to aggravated robbery with a gun specification is still pending against Hassan Merriweather, 23, formerly of Rutledge Drive.
A third defendant, Sarah L. Beck, 38, formerly of Rutledge Drive, has pleaded guilty to complicity to involuntary manslaughter and complicity to aggravated robbery.
When Beck entered her guilty plea earlier this month, she agreed to testify against Smith and Merriweather if they went to trial.
Andrews is recommending a 10-year prison term for Beck when Judge Sweeney sentences her at 11 a.m. April 28. The prosecution alleges Beck lured Flores by telephone to her Rutledge Drive residence, where Flores was fatally shot, Andrews said.
Last fall, a jury acquitted another defendant, Reginald Gilchrist Jr., 26, of Mistletoe Avenue, of complicity to aggravated murder and complicity to aggravated robbery.
Beck’s residence was deliberately set ablaze the day after the shooting, firefighters said.
Andrews would not specify which of the co-defendants refused to testify.