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Campbell driver, 20, gets probation in fatal crash
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum told a man he was sentencing for aggravated vehicular homicide in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court he believed the man’s conduct was reckless but not intentional.
“This is a classic ‘you have to be more careful’ case,” Judge Krichbaum said. “If you want to drive fast, you go up to Cedar Point and ride on some of the rides. They go fast.”
The judge sentenced Deone Cray, 20, of Monroe Street in Campbell, on Wednesday to five years’ probation with six months of that to be served in the Mahoning County jail for a Sept. 15, 2013, accident on the South Side that killed 31-year-old Delouis Clark III of Youngstown.
Police say speed was a factor in the accident in which Cray was driving east down East Indianola Avenue near Hunter Street when he lost control and his car struck a building. Clark was a passenger in the car.
Cray pleaded guilty to the charge March 26, but the degree of felony he pleaded guilty to — the charge is a third-degree felony — does not require mandatory prison time.
Nick Brevetta, an assistant county prosecutor, told Judge Krichbaum that he made the recommendation because of issues with blood and urine samples collected by police at the time of the accident.
Cray’s lawyer, Scott Cochran, had filed a motion to suppress that evidence, and Brevetta said he talked to police. The officer who collected the samples admitted he had not followed proper procedure in collecting the samples, so Brevetta had to make the deal that he did.
“I do believe the blood draw would’ve been suppressed [as evidence],” Brevetta said.
Clark’s father, Delouis Clark II, told Judge Krichbaum he believes Cray deliberately killed his son because his son was feuding with Cray’s mother.
Brevetta told Judge Krichbaum he went over the plea agreement with Clark’s mother before Cray accepted it and that she gave her approval. He said he did not hear from Clark’s father until after the plea was made.
“I was taken aback by the account he levied today, your honor,” Brevetta said.
Cochran asked the judge for a sentence that would not include prison time. He said his client was reckless, but that he made a mistake and that he has to live the rest of his life with killing a person who was his best friend.
He said Cray had a juvenile court record but has been an apprentice electrician, working with the pastor of his mother’s church, and wants to finish school and become an electrician. He also had letters of support from that church’s pastor and a deacon.
Cochran said Cray had only had his license for three months at the time of the accident and that he was trying to show off for Clark before the accident.
A somber Cray said he was sorry. He said he especially felt bad because Clark had children and he knows what it’s like to grow up without a father, adding he never wanted to be the reason “someone left the world.”