43
Blue apologizes during murder sentending
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Larry Blue said Thursday he did it and he was sorry.
Betty Sharp said the man Blue pleaded guilty to killing, David Stokes, had his faults but was loved.
Both gave short, simple statements in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court as Blue was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison by Judge John Durkin for the murder of Stokes, 52, of Lisbon, at the Rockford Village Housing project on Feb. 2, 2013.
Betty Sharp is the mother of a man who was wounded in the same shooting, Matthew Sharp, and said she is a close friend of the Stokes family.
Prosecutors said that Stokes, his adult son and Matthew Sharp were at the housing project because Stokes had $1,350 with him and wanted to buy cocaine when Blue demanded money from the three. When they said they didn’t have any money, Blue began firing from one of two guns he had and wounded Sharp and fatally wounded Stokes. He rifled through his pockets, took his money and ran away.
Betty Sharp said she hoped Blue knew the pain and hardship he caused Stokes’ family. Her son, Matthew, was not in court because he is in the Columbiana County jail.
“David Stokes counted for something in life,” Betty Sharp said. “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time doing something he shouldn’t have been doing, but nevertheless, he was a father, and he was loved.”
Blue pleaded guilty Wednesday just before jury selection was to begin in his trial. As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to amend a charge of aggravated murder to murder and agreed to run sentences for two counts of felonious assault and aggravated robbery concurrently with the murder sentence, which was 15 years to life plus and an additional three years for a firearm specification.
Blue read from a short, handwritten note he had crumpled up in the pocket of his jail coveralls.
“I do want to apologize to you all for what happened,” Blue said. “I know I can’t make what’s not right, right, but I do want to take responsibility.”
Blue said he wanted to take advantage of the time he has in prison to make sure there will be a positive outcome.
“I want this to be a gain and not loss,” Blue said. “Good, not evil.”
Prosecutors said Stokes set up the drug deal the night before with a woman, and she in turn took them to Blue. The woman, Khadijah Payden-Briggs, 21, pleaded guilty to complicity charges in May 2013 and was sentenced to four years in prison.