Man, 22, sentenced in death of teenager

June 12, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A 22-year-old Halleck Street man who originally was charged with murder in a nearly 2-year-old case involving a shooting death in a Campbell housing project, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Tyrell Ravnell pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter with a gun specification and being a felon with a gun Monday as jury selection was about to get under way for his re-trial before Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Durkin immediately sentenced Ravnell, who was charged in the June 20, 2010, shooting death of Christian Blackshear, 19, of Wirt Street. Blackshear was shot in the head with an AK47 rifle at close range on a sidewalk in the Kirwan Homes housing project.

Judge Durkin declared a mistrial in Ravnell’s trial in January 2011 because of a hung jury. Jurors were deadlocked six for conviction and six for acquittal after several days of deliberations.

Citing the hung jury, Nicholas Brevetta, an assistant county prosecutor, said he made the plea deal because it brought the certainty of a substantial prison term and eliminated the risk associated with the outcome of a re-trial.

This was the second time Ravnell was convicted in a fatal shooting at the Kirwan Homes.

Ravnell pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of negligent homicide and to improperly handling a gun in a motor vehicle and was sentenced to 304 days in county jail in the Feb. 22, 2008, shooting death of Diana Noble, 39, of Howland.

Noble was shot in Campbell and drove herself to her home, where she died of internal bleeding.