Killer of Warren man, wounding of woman gets 46 years to life in prison

Staff report

WARREN

Michael B. Settle, the triggerman in the April 7, 2014, slaying of James Levels, 64, and the wounding of Lisa Prater, 49, at Prater’s South Street home, has been sentenced to 46 years to life in prison.

Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court handed down the sentence Monday.

Settle, 27, of Niles, was one of two men who entered the house to commit a robbery. The other man, Tyler Meardith, 24, of Warren, was sentenced last month to 18 years in prison.

Settle was convicted at trial of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, felonious assault, aggravated robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Two other men involved in the robbery who didn’t get out of the car, James Stein, 30, and Beau Palmer, 31, both of Warren, were sentenced earlier, Stein to seven years in prison, Palmer to 12.

Settle could have gotten life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Chris Becker, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, sought that penalty for Settle.

“This court now has the ability and the reasons to give [Settle] a permanent home that will protect the public from future crime by the defendant and others and to punish him,” Becker wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court.

Judge Kontos sentenced Settle to 30 years to life in prison for killing Levels, who lived in Warren, and another eight years for the felonious assault on Prater. He gave Settle additional time for using a gun in commission of the crimes and about two more years for violating the terms of his probation on a previous offense.