Five years in prison for woman who obstructed justice in murder case

YOUNGSTOWN

A woman whose theft of electricity from a neighbor in 2012 led the murder of the neighbor was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court today to five years in prison on obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence charges.

Jasmin Fletcher, 26, received the sentence from Judge Maureen Sweeney after the judge refused a motion by her attorney to vacate her guilty pleas in the case.

Police said Fletcher was caught by her neighbor in a Lora Avenue apartment building, Munir Blake, 31, stealing electricity from him on March 1, 2012. The pair argued and then Blake was killed. The man accused of killing Blake, Michael Paige, Fletchers’s cousin, was convicted earlier this month of murder and was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison for the death of Blake.