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Woman gets probation for role in man’s death on Idora Avenue
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Antwanette Kennedy said as she was being sentenced for obstruction of justice for her role in the 2014 shooting death of a man on Idora Avenue that she had to break the law.
Speaking through tears Wednesday before Judge Maureen Sweeney in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Kennedy, 26, said she was threatened that she’d be killed if she did not lure Maurise Kerns, 24, to a vacant home on Idora Avenue, where he was shot and killed April 1, 2014.
The judge sentenced Kennedy to a year of probation on an amended charge of obstruction of justice, which was recommended by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
“I was put in the wrong situation, and it was out of control what I had to do,” Kennedy said.
That was not good enough for Sabrina Carter, the mother of Kerns, who said she could have called police.
“I will never accept the system of her walking free,” Carter said.
Kennedy is the last of four people to be sentenced for the death of Kerns, who was killed in an exchange of gunfire and was found lying on the porch of the vacant home.
Brothers Bralin Allen, 30; Breandre Allen, 29; and a third man, Michael Wilkins, 25, are all serving lengthy prison sentences for Kerns’ death.
Police said the shooting stemmed from a March 21, 2014, shooting in which Bralin Allen was shot in the head on Glenwood Avenue. The brothers thought Kerns may have been involved in the shooting of Bralin Allen, police said.
Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said Kennedy lied to police when they first questioned her, but when detectives took her to the crime scene a short time later, she broke down immediately and told police everything that happened.
Andrews said it would have been hard to build a case against the other three defendants without Kennedy’s cooperation.
Her lawyer, Sam Amendolara, asked the judge to uphold the recommended sentence, saying his client has never had a criminal complaint against her, cooperated when asked and showed up for every court date. His client was threatened with death herself if she did not lure Kerns to the home, something Andrews said he had no reason to doubt.
“She too was placed in an ethical, moral dilemma,” Amendolara said. “‘Do what I say or I will kill you and your family and your child.’”
Carter said she understood why prosecutors made the offer they did to Kennedy, but she did not like it.
“She helped to destroy my life,” Carter said. “Taking my baby away from me was hard, and it still hurts me today.”