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Man sentenced for killing girlfriend
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Emma Parker had a simple message for women Monday after the man who killed her daughter was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison: If you’re in an abusive relationship, leave immediately.
“If the guy hits you once, he’ll hit you again,” she said through tears shortly after Larry Johnson, 40, was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for the Dec. 31, 2013, murder of her 26-year-old daughter, LaShea Parker, inside the Shelby Road home the couple shared.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin told Judge Shirley J. Christian that Parker was found by her children on her bedroom floor and all of the wounds she suffered were to her side or back. She said there was a history of Johnson beating her.
Johnson pleaded guilty to a charge of murder Friday, averting a trial that was to begin Monday. Prosecutors dropped charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery as part of the plea agreement and also agreed not to address the parole board when Johnson comes up for parole. That agreement, however, does not bind others from speaking when he is eligible.
The sentence of 15 years to life is the mandatory sentence for murder, and a judge has no discretion when handing down that sentence.
McLaughlin also told Judge Christian that Parker was discovered by three of her children, the oldest of whom was 7 at the time. McLaughlin said Parker’s 1-year-old daughter — who she had with Johnson — was crying the next morning, and the children went to get their mother to take care of the baby. They found her bedroom door locked and managed to pry it open and found her face down on the floor. There was a heavy amount of blood throughout the room, and a belt was found on Parker’s head along with a 5-pound weight next to her.
McLaughlin said the kids at first were not sure what happened to their mother.
“The girls converse with each other and ask, ‘Is Mommy sleeping?’ or ‘Is Mommy dead?’” McLaughlin told the judge. “They decided with all the blood that Mommy is dead.”
The girls then went to tell their grandfather, but it was a long walk to his home on a bitterly cold day. A neighbor discovered them outside, and the children told them their mother was dead. That neighbor found Parker’s body and told police.
Defense attorney Lou DeFabio said his client is deeply remorseful and wanted to plead guilty to spare the children of testifying at a trial. Through tears, Johnson apologized to the family.
“Sherry was beautiful,” Johnson said. “A beautiful young lady. I just want to apologize to her family and to my family. You don’t just affect you; you affect people in your circle. I just ask y’all to forgive me.”
David Parker, the victim’s father, spoke to the judge for the family and said more than anything his daughter wanted a family and that’s why she stuck with Johnson. She also wanted to help Johnson, her father said.
“That’s what she tried to do here,” David Parker said. “It [Johnson] was the wrong person.”
Emma Parker said her daughter would complain of headaches and she never knew why until the day she saw her daughter with a bruise on her head and found out it came from Johnson.
“He put her head through a door,” Emma Parker said.
Emma Parker said she couldn’t believe Johnson would treat her daughter the way he did. She said her daughter worked two jobs and took care of him and her children, including the one she had with him.
“And that wasn’t enough for him?” she asked.
She said the children are doing well and that she and her husband are caring for them. She said her daughter’s helpful and trusting nature was not enough to counter Johnson’s anger.
“What got her killed was helping people,” Emma Parker said.