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Man gets 14 years in homicide
YOUNGSTOWN
The last of three men charged in an April 2014 homicide has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Michael Wilkins, 24, of Whitney Court, drew the sentence Friday from Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the death of Maurise Kerns.
Wilkins, who was originally charged with aggravated murder, had pleaded guilty in October to voluntary manslaughter with a firearm specification.
Kerns, 24, was killed after he was lured to a vacant home in the 500 block of Idora Avenue.
In May, brothers Bralin and Breandre Allen, age 28 and 29, both of Boardman, got 15- and 20-year prison terms, respectively, after they pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault in this case.
Kerns was slain in retaliation for a shooting a few weeks earlier, in which one of the Allens was wounded, investigators said.
Police responded to Idora Avenue and Utilis Street on the South Side at 3 a.m. April 1, 2014, after activation of a gunshot sensor and found Kerns’ body on the porch, with a revolver, cell- phone and five spent .380-caliber shell casings nearby.
Wilkins’ sentence is nonappealable because it was agreed to by the prosecution and defense and adopted by the judge. Wilkins, who will be on parole for five years after prison, apologized in court for his actions.
Breandre Allen, who was shot in the foot in the exchange of gunfire with Kerns, drove himself to an Akron hospital, where he told authorities he’d been wounded during an attempted robbery in Akron.
When Youngstown police learned he was in Akron, they asked Akron police to hold him for them.
Even though the evidence shows Wilkins fired a gun, Wilkins got less prison time than the Allens because there’s no evidence he participated in planning the slaying, said Robert J. Andrews, an assistant county prosecutor.
A fourth defendant in the case, Antwanette M. Kennedy, 25, of Canfield Road, is set for a plea hearing at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 19.