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youngstown Man gets 23 years to life for 2017 shooting death
Man sentenced for Market Street murder in ‘17
Victim’s sons face charges after court melee
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who complained to police about “insensitive” drivers – those who would not let him into traffic before he shot and killed a woman during rush hour on Market Street – was quiet Monday.
Dale Williams, 62, was attacked in court Thursday by that woman’s sons. On Monday, Williams told Judge Maureen Sweeney in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that he did not wish to make a statement. That was just before sentencing him to 23 years to life in prison for the June 15, 2017, death of Elizabeth Stewart, 46, on Market Street.
Because of Thursday’s melee in court which led to contempt charges being filed against Stewart’s sons, as well as misdemeanor obstruction of justice charges, there were more than a dozen deputy sheriffs in and around the courtroom to make sure there was no trouble.
An aunt of Stewart’s, Janice Dees, apologized for her nephews, Anthony Dees, 30, and Jerome Stewart, 23, saying when they saw Williams on Thursday it was the first time they had laid eyes on him since their mother’s death.
Police said the night before she was killed, Stewart filed a complaint with Boardman police against Williams for domestic violence.
The next morning, Stewart waited about 45 minutes in a Market Street parking lot for Stewart to go to work. When he spotted her car, he got into traffic, rammed her car into a building near West Hylda Avenue and shot her while she begged for her life.
Janice Dees at times had to stop reading from her handwritten statement because she was crying.
“He shot her like an animal,” Janice Dees said. “We are still heartbroken. We will be heartbroken for the rest of our life. There’s a hole that will never go away.”
Investigators said when Williams was interrogated, he complained that other drivers would not let him out in traffic so he could catch up with the car Stewart was driving, calling them “insensitive.”
Dees and Stewart were each given a bond of 10 percent of $4,000 on a felony charge of obstructing official business and a misdemeanor assault charge.
Both men pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor and did not enter pleas on the felony.
Neither man has a prior criminal record.