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Woman violates probation in overdose death
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A woman who was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a charge of involuntary manslaughter received a six-month sentence Monday for violating her probation.
Sentenced for the July 2016 heroin overdose of a man and sent to the Mahoning County jail by Judge Lou D’Apolito was Marisha Robinson, 27. She was taken into custody Nov. 10 after she violated her probation by failing to notify her probation officer she had moved to Columbus.
She was also drug tested then and came up positive for cocaine, fentanyl and marijuana.
In January 2017, Robinson received her sentence for her role in the death of Matthew Godfrey, who died in her McCartney Road on the East Side home after overdosing on heroin.
Another person who was there that day with Robinson and Godfrey also pleaded guilty to the same charge and also was sentenced to probation.
Robinson said she was going to notify her probation officer that she was moving after she found a place to live. She told the judge, however, that took longer than she thought and she did not have a place to live for two months.
The answer clearly exasperated the judge.
“You have rules to follow, and you didn’t follow them,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Judge D’Apolito asked Robinson why she turned to drugs. “I was stressed out,” she said.
The judge was also not happy with that answer, saying that if she does not stop taking drugs she will end up dead, which is why he placed her in jail.
“I would rather send you to prison than read your obituary,” Judge D’Apolito said.