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Last two defendants in Winona homicide sentenced
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
David Jenkins told a judge he felt fear last August, pulled a gun and fired it – and someone died.
All in a split second.
Jenkins, 18, will spend 15 years in prison, sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Wednesday for the Aug. 17, 2014, shooting death of 17-year-old Shawn Cortez on Winona Drive.
“Split-second decisions are what our lives are all about,” said Judge Lou A. D’Apolito as he handed down the sentence, which was agreed upon by defense attorneys and Assistant Prosecutor Martin Desmond.
Jenkins was part of a crowd that went to the street to fight Cortez and was walking away when the fight seemed to fizzle out. When it heated up again, there were shots and shouts and running – and Jenkins said that was why he fired the gun he was carrying.
“This act was not committed with malicious intent,” Jenkins said. “It came out of fear and desperation. It came out of a moment of fear.”
Also sentenced later in the day was Carl Fleeton, 43, who received a sentence of six years.
Prosecutors indicted 15 people for the death of Cortez, who was killed after two groups of people were set to fight on Winona Drive. One of those was Jenkins’ 19-year-old brother Dejon, who received a five-year prison sentence Tuesday.
With Tuesday’s sentences, all 15 defendants have now had their cases completed.
Desmond said the sentence is appropriate for Jenkins because he brought a gun to the fight and because he had been feuding with Cortez for a year over a girl. The fact that he had a gun escalated the situation to the point where someone died.
Jenkins’ attorney, Gregg Rossi, disputed that his client brought the gun to the fight but acknowledged that he did get a gun sometime during the course of the confrontation and that he fired it. He said his client was walking away when the group they had come to fight taunted his group, and that was when shots were fired. Rossi also said it was Dejon Jenkins that was feuding with Cortez, not his brother.
Judge D’Apolito also had harsh words for adults who were present, some of whom were charged and sentenced, saying that instead of calming things down, they escalated the situation with either guns or inflammatory comments.
One of those adults was Fleeton, who initially tried to get the groups off his street twice, but somehow ended up with a gun in his hands despite the fact he is a convicted felon. Desmond said witnesses told police Fleeton fired the weapon but Fleeton denied ever firing a gun yet admitted to having one.
Fleeton entered an Alford plea to charges of aggravated assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm and a firearms specification. An Alford Plea means Fleeton maintains his innocence but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a jury to convict him.
Judge D’Apolito gave Fleeton credit for trying to break up the fight, but said that Fleeton was convicted of firearms offenses in the past and based on his record, he thought the sentence was appropriate. Desmond was asking for seven years but the judge said he would give Fleeton the benefit of a doubt and sentenced him to six years.