Man enters guilty plea in September fatal accident

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A Campbell man pleaded guilty Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide, for his role in a September accident that killed a passenger in his car.

Deone Cray, 20, of Monroe Street, will be sentenced at 9 a.m. May 21 by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.

Prosecutors are recommending a sentence to be served in the county jail as well as probation.

Cray also faces a suspension of his driver’s license for no less than three years and up to life.

Cray made the plea as the case was set for an evidence-suppression hearing before Judge Krichbaum.

Police said a car driven by Cray was eastbound on Indianola Avenue approaching Hunter Street on Sept. 15 when it went out of control and hit a vacant building. Delouis Clark, 31, a passenger in the car, was killed.

Speed was a major factor in the crash, police said.

A charge of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was dropped in exchange for Cray’s plea.

Clark’s family was in court Wednesday. Judge Krichbaum asked assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta if he had consulted with Clark’s family before offering the plea, and Brevetta said he did.

Cray was indicted by a grand jury in the crash in January.