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Man gets 23 years in May '14 homicide
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A judge sentenced a Tod Lane man to 23 years in prison for his role in a May 2014 murder.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Wesley Blackshear, 43, on Friday after he pleaded guilty earlier this summer to charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery, both with firearm specifications.
Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 25 years. Defense attorney Lynn Maro argued for a sentence of 20 years.
Blackshear was involved in the death of Brendon Moorer, 34, of Robinson Road, Campbell, who was found dead in a car at a McGuffey Road gas station May 24, 2014.
Police said Moorer was in the passenger seat of a car that drove to Tod Lane on the North Side and picked up Blackshear for a drug sale.
The shooting occurred sometime after that, with Blackshear getting out of the car and running away, police said.
Moorer and Blackshear knew each other, police said.
The driver of the car panicked and drove to a McGuffey Road gas station more than 1.5 miles away, which is where police were called just before midnight. When they got there, Moorer was dead.
Maro told the judge the entire situation in the car escalated quickly for her client after an argument broke out about money.
She said Blackshear was trying to get away when he shot Moorer.
An autopsy showed the angle of the bullet wounds Moorer suffered back up his story.
Maro said when her client was arrested, he cooperated fully with police.
Blackshear apologized and said he never meant for anything bad to happen.
“When I left home that night, I never set out for anything bad to happen,” Blackshear said.
Moorer’s wife told the judge her life has been rough since the death of her husband, and it has “deeply affected” her children.