Man pleads guilty to 2012 murder

By Joe Gorman | February 19, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 22 years in prison for a man who pleaded guilty to a shooting in 2012 that killed one man and wounded another.

Walter Walker, 33, of East Lucius Avenue, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery and attempted murder with firearm specifications in the March 10, 2012, shooting death of 34-year-old Damon Hodges and wounding of Dustin Greenwalt, who was 25 at the time, inside a home on North Lane Avenue on the East Side.

Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews told Judge Lou A. D’Apolito he is recommending a sentence of 22 years. A charge of aggravated murder was amended to involuntary manslaughter and a charge of felonious assault was dropped as part of the plea. Sentencing has not been set.

The pleas avert a trial that was to start Monday.

In a separate case, Walker also pleaded guilty to charges of felonious assault, intimidation and retaliation for the beating of an inmate while he was in the county jail in 2013. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of nine years in that case, to run concurrent with the sentences for the shooting.

Andrews said prosecutors believe the shooting was drug related because Walker came to the home to buy drugs. Police said the home was set up for people to sell drugs from inside.

Walker first shot Hodges, then struggled with Greenwalt for the gun and the gun went off, wounding Greenwalt, who was hit in the chest and torso. Greenwalt then ran to a nearby home to call 911.

Greenwalt also was the victim of a shooting on the West Side in 2010, when he was wounded three times.