Teen gets 20 years in death of Niles man

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A 16-year-old pleaded guilty to a bill of information Thursday in the death of a Niles man in October.

Damarrea Harris pleaded guilty in the Oct. 28 death of David T. Perkins, 23, who was found lying in the driveway of a vacant 266 Hilton Ave. home about 9:20 a.m. Oct. 29. Coroner’s officials said he had been shot in the back.

Harris entered guilty pleas to charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery with a firearm specification.

Judge Maureen Sweeney in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court immediately sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Judge Sweeney gave Harris 11 years for the involuntary-manslaughter charge, which is the maximum. He also received a six-year sentence for aggravated robbery and a sentence of three years on the firearm specification for a total of 20 years.

Harris had been charged in juvenile court, but the case was bound over to common pleas court and he pleaded guilty to the bill of information.

Perkins was not identified until the day after his body was found, when a group of his friends became concerned after seeing news reports of a body being found and the description.

A week before Perkins was killed, police said Harris had been arrested as a juvenile on a stolen property charge.

A court spokeswoman for Judge Sweeney said Perkins’ father spoke to the judge before sentencing.