Saturday, May 21, 2011
Staff report
WARREN
Karen Adams of Masury, originally charged with murder for killing Robert Flynn, 15, with a gunshot Aug. 10, 2009, has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and three counts of felonious assault.
She has agreed to a six-year prison term.
Adams, 30, of Stateline Road, entered the pleas Friday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, avoiding a trial that was set to begin Monday. Judge W. Wyatt McKay will sentence her at 1:30 p.m. July 29.
Flynn and three other teens had gone to the home where Adams lived with Paul Sundy Jr., 41, at about 2:30 a.m. to confront Sundy regarding Sundy’s teen daughter. The boys had baseball bats and lead pipes with them.
The driver of the car, John Ost, 17, had threatened Sundy over the telephone in advance of the confrontation, which gave credibility to Adams’ argument that she fired the gun in self-defense, said Chris Becker, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.
The boys involved were 17, 17, 16 and 15. Flynn, of Masury, would have been a freshman that fall at Brookfield High School.
Becker said the prosecution and defense are jointly recommending a six-year prison term, but the decision rests with Judge McKay.
Adams and Sundy, who is charged with one count of obstructing justice and one count of tampering with evidence, are free on bond. Sundy is awaiting trial.
Adams also pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, which is related to the a .22-caliber gun that police found after it was hidden from them.