Marcus Thomas murder sentence upheld

YOUNGSTOWN — The Seventh District Court of Appeals has unanimously upheld the 23 years-to-life prison term imposed on a 24-year-old East Warren Avenue man, who pleaded guilty to a South Side aggravated robbery and murder with a firearm specification.

Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court had imposed that sentence on Marcus Thomas after he pleaded guilty to those charges in the Aug. 16, 2005, shooting death of Matthew J. Saunders, 40, of Youngstown.

Saunders was found shot in the head just before midnight that day at Pyatt and Erie streets, where police said Saunders had arranged to meet a prostitute.

“Thomas’ sentence fell within the statutory range and was not clearly and convincingly contrary to law, nor an abuse of discretion,” Judge Gene Donofrio wrote in the appeals court decision released Thursday. Judges Cheryl L. Waite and Mary DeGenaro concurred in that decision.

Thomas had appealed from his April 2008 re-sentencing, in which Judge Sweeney imposed on him the same 23-years-to-life prison term she had given him in October 2006.

The appeals court had ordered the resentencing because it said Judge Sweeney cited in Thomas’ first sentencing hearing a statute the Ohio Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional eight months earlier.