Blue pleads guilty in 2013 housing project murder

Larry Blue Guilty Plea

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Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa speaks in court Wednesday after Larry Blue, 34, pleaded guilty to a charge of murder for the killing of a man in a Feb. 2, 2013, drug deal at the Rockford Village Public Housing Project

YOUNGSTOWN — A man charged with the killing of a Columbiana County man at an East Side housing project pleaded guilty today in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a charge of murder with a firearm specification.

Larry Blue, 34, will be sentenced Thursday by Judge John Durkin. His plea averted a trial that was to begin today.

Blue is charged with the February 2013 death of 52-year-old David Stokes and the wounding of another man at the Rockford Village Housing Project.

Police said the killing happened during a drug deal.

An accomplice was sentenced to four years in prison in May of 2013.

The only sentence Blue can receive is 15 years to life in prison, plus an additional three years because of the firearm specification.