Murder victim's mom nearly unable to speak at killer's sentencing

YOUNGSTOWN

Terry Carter tried to speak Tuesday for her son who was murdered in September 2013, but she couldn’t.

Appearing before Judge Shirley J. Christian in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Carter was to address Anthony Hopkins, 36, the man convicted Nov. 20 of killing her son, Frank James Brown.

When she reached the podium, she paused and seemed to be choked up. She blew her nose and spoke slowly in a voice that was barely audible. She said something about God and how she wanted Hopkins, of West Dewey Avenue, to know how the death of her son has affected her.

“I want him to know what he [Hopkins] did to my family,” Carter said. But she could say no more, so she walked back to her seat.

Hopkins was given a sentence of 321⁄2 years to life in prison on convictions of aggravated murder with a firearm specification, tampering with evidence and intimidation of a victim or witness to a crime.

Read details of the crime and the sentence in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.