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Prosecutor suggests maximum sentence in manslaughter case
By Peter H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
A prosecutor has recommended the maximum sentence — 13 years in prison — for a woman who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her husband nearly four years ago.
Nicholas Brevetta, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, recommended 10 years on the manslaughter charge, plus the mandatory consecutive three years for the firearm specification, for Monique Williams, 43, in the April 21, 2008, slaying of her 44-year-old husband, Julius.
The recommendation is contained in the plea agreement, under which Williams pleaded guilty to the manslaughter and firearm specification Thursday before Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Durkin will sentence her at 1:30 p.m. March 14.
Williams’ case returned to Judge Durkin’s court after the 7th District Court of Appeals ordered a new trial based on its findings of legal and procedural error in Williams’ January 2010 jury trial. In that trial, Williams was convicted of murder with a firearm specification and sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.
Williams pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter just before her scheduled retrial, which was to begin Monday.
Monique Williams, 43, fatally shot her husband in their Norwood Avenue residence on the city’s North Side.
In the trial, the prosecution said she shot her husband at least twice in the back with a .38-caliber revolver while he was too drunk to walk or stand up.
But the defense said Julius Williams choked and tried to kill his wife on the night he was shot, and that Monique Williams shot her husband during a struggle to save her life.