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Man, convicted again in slaying, receives 59 years
YOUNGSTOWN
A city man who was found guilty a second time in a 2003 murder was sentenced to 59 years in prison Friday.
Judge James Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Darrin L. Moore, 27, of Willis Avenue, three days after a jury convicted Moore of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and receiving stolen property and of a gun specification in the December 2003 death of Robert Smith. 29, of Eliot Lane.
Moore’s 2006 conviction was reversed on appeal, and his retrial began Feb. 15. Judge Evans sentenced Moore in 2006 to 49 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery, both with firearm specifications; two counts of receiving stolen property; escape; and failure to comply with a signal of police.
Prosecutors said Moore and Damon Clark of Youngstown saw Smith sitting in a car outside a North Garland Avenue bar. Police said Moore took the car keys from Smith and shot Smith in the back.
Clark is set for jury trial in August before Judge Evans on an aggravated-murder charge.
Moore’s sentence includes time for aggravated robbery, gross sexual imposition and kidnapping. When Moore went on trial four years ago, he pleaded guilty to these charges — and requested to wait on sentencing until after the murder trial, said Atty. Dawn Cantalamessa of the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office.
Those charges relate to a separate September 2003 incident, when police said Moore accosted a Lisbon woman in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Mathews Road in Boardman.
Moore was being held at the juvenile justice center on those charges when he complained of leg pain in October 2003. Moore was taken to Forum Health Northside Medical Center for treatment but ran as he and an officer were leaving the hospital, according to Vindicator files.
When police arrested Moore in January 2004, after a chase and while he was driving a stolen car, Moore was wanted in Smith’s murder.
On Friday, Judge Evans sentenced Moore to serve five years in prison concurrently for a felony escape charge.
Cantalamessa said victims had attended many prior court proceedings but did not attend Friday because of the weather. She asked Judge Evans to consider statements from Smith’s brother, Kenneth Smith, that were made at Moore’s 2006 sentencing.
Atty. Thomas E. Zena, who represents Moore, said he plans to appeal.