D'Apolito's courtroom erupts in sobs as 22-year-old sentenced to 35 years

YOUNGSTOWN

As chaos erupted today in a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court courtroom during a sentencing hearing, two people kept their cool – the judge and the defendant.

The judge was Lou D’Apolito, who continued reading off the sentences for Leonard Savage, 22, for his role in a November 2015 homicide as members of Savage’s family cried and streamed out of court in tears and sobs.

Savage, also, stood ramrod straight and stared directly in front of him as person after person got out of their seat in tears and left.

In at least one instance, a woman fell to her knees and was dragged out by another spectator. The noise was so loud workers in courthouse offices came to the courtroom to see what was going on.

The family was in an uproar after Judge D’Apolito sentenced Savage to 35 years to life in prison on complicity charges for aggravated murder, attempted murder and felonious assault for a Nov. 14, 2015, gunshot attack on a car that killed 33-year-old Thomas Owens of Burbank Avenue.

The judge said he sat through the trial and the sentence is deserved.

“This senseless act of violence took the life of an innocent man, it destroyed families and it robbed you of your future,” Judge D’Apolito told him.

Read more about the case and the courtroom events in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.