Plea brings reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A 25-year old man, initially charged with murder in the Feb. 12 shooting death of his uncle, has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter with a firearm specification.

Emmett Perkins IV, who had addresses on Paxton Road in Boardman and West Princeton Avenue in Youngstown, entered his guilty plea Thursday before Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the death of 28-year-old Frank Whitted.

Jeffrey Davis, an assistant county prosecutor, is recommending a 14-year prison term — the maximum allowed by law for the manslaughter charge with the gun specification — when Judge D’Apolito sentences Perkins at 10 a.m. July 17. That sentence would consist of 11 years for the manslaughter plus three consecutive years for the gun specification.

The county coroner ruled Whitted died of a single gunshot wound to the chest after being shot at 1:34 a.m. at a home on West Princeton Avenue on the city’s South Side.

Police believe the shooting resulted from an argument between Perkins and Whitted.

“They were fighting over a gun, and the gun went off and killed Mr. Whitted,” said Perkins’ lawyer, Robert Duffrin.

Whitted’s 2-year-old son and a woman were in the house when the shooting occurred, but were not injured. Police placed the child in the care of an aunt.

Perkins’ prior criminal record includes felonious assault, domestic violence, endangering children and misdemeanor assault.

After prison, Perkins will be on parole for five years.