Men plead guilty to reduced charges in death

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Two city residents pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter in a Jan. 2 homicide on the city’s North Side.

Jerrell R. Womack, 20, of Oak Street, and Sheridan L. Tubbs, 21, of Silliman Street, entered their pleas Tuesday in the death of Dene R. Montgomery, 30, of Wesley Avenue, who was shot in the back of the head in the living room of 232 Lora Ave.

Womack also pleaded guilty to a firearm specification that will add a mandatory, consecutive three years to whatever prison term he gets on the manslaughter charge. The sentencing range on the manslaughter charge is three to 10 years in prison.

The prosecution and defense have agreed to total prison terms of seven years for Womack and three years for Tubbs.

Those sentences will not be appealable if Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court adopts them at the Aug. 24 sentencings, which will be at 8:30 and 9 a.m., respectively.

Both defendants originally were charged with aggravated murder.

The prosecution dropped an aggravated-robbery charge that accused both defendants of robbing Montgomery in conjunction with killing him.

Womack and Tubbs will be on parole for up to five years after serving their prison terms.