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Niles man gets 10-year prison sentence for giving fatal heroin injection
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Mark Thornsberry, 26, of Wilson Street in Niles, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday for injecting a dose of heroin into Joshua J. Robbins, 25, of Mineral Ridge, that killed him in May.
Thornsberry pleaded guilty earlier to involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence and corrupting another with drugs.
Robbins was the father of two children, now age 5 and 3, and the son of longtime Niles Police Detective Jim Robbins, who spoke in court before the sentencing.
“By his own admission, he injected heroin into my son and didn’t even know how much he injected,” the detective said of Thornsberry.
“He then saw my son pass out and go into convulsions and instead of calling 911, Thornsberry put my son in his bed and left him to die. Instead of calling for help, Thornsberry took the time to collect the heroin and drug paraphernalia that he brought to my son’s home and took it with him.”
Robbins added that because of Thornsberry’s actions, Joshua’s children and their mother no longer have him there. “And with his death, a piece of me died with him, which I will never get back.”
Before Judge Rice handed down the sentence, he noted that Thornsberry had been free on bond after his indictment, but bond was revoked after a young woman overdosed on heroin in Thornsberry’s home and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Thornsberry, who was on house arrest at the time, tested positive for heroin during the investigation of the girl’s overdose, said Capt. Jeff Orr, commander of the Trumbull Ashtabula Law Enforcement Task Force. Detective Fred Raines of TAG investigated that overdose and the circumstances surrounding Robbins’ death with Detective Michael Yannucci of Trumbull County Sheriff’s office.
After an emotional Thornsberry told Judge Rice he would clean up his life, Judge Rice mentioned that he had given Thornsberry a second chance at the time he allowed him to be released from the Trumbull County jail on bond after his indictment.
“You said the same thing” about getting your life on track then, Judge Rice said.
When Judge Rice asked Thornsberry why he didn’t seek help for Robbins, Thornsberry said, “I was on so many different things that night, so many drugs. I was on heroin. I wasn’t in the right state of mind.”