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Shooting death gets man 20 years in prison
Photo
Travis Donaldson.
YOUNGSTOWN
A 21-year-old city man will spend the next two decades in prison for what officials believe was a murder over drugs.
Travis Donaldson, 21, of Truesdale Avenue, appeared for sentencing Friday before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the shooting death of Hylen L. Cash, 21, of Sunshine Avenue.
Donaldson previously had pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, receiving stolen property, illegal possession of a weapon, possession of a firearm, tampering with evidence, a firearm specification and voluntary manslaughter, which was reduced from a murder charge.
Judge Evans sentenced Donaldson to a combined 20-year sentence on all the charges. He will get credit for the 693 days he has spent in the county jail awaiting trial.
Donaldson shot and killed Cash in the late morning of May 23, 2009, on Ayers Street on the East Side after an argument that witnesses told police was over heroin. A firearm also was found near Cash’s body.
Donaldson was arrested on South Avenue shortly after the shooting. He was a passenger in a car that fled police.
Angel Cash, the mother of Hylen Cash, addressed the court before Judge Evans handed down the sentence. She told the judge her son “was no angel” but his murder has devastated her family and changed their lives.
“This is a sad day for two families. I lost a child, and their family is going to lose a child. The only difference is they can see their child. No matter the situation, no one has a right to take someone’s life. When he did that, he changed my life,” she said. “I want you, your honor, to give justice.”
Atty. Douglas King, representing Donaldson, said his client was only 18 at the time of the incident and has taken responsibility by pleading to voluntary manslaughter. He reminded the court Donaldson likely was provoked, and the victim is believed to have been carrying a gun.
Martin Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor, however, told the court Donaldson deserved no further breaks in the case. He recommended a 20-year combined sentence for all the charges.
“This is a situation that escalated from what would have been a fist-fight years ago to homicide,” Desmond said. “The defendant got his break from murder to manslaughter and should be made to serve every day of this [20 years]. There must be a message sent.”
Judge Evans said, “It’s a sad, sad state of affairs when our youth have access to these guns on the street. It has to stop.”