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Man gets 9 1/2 years in overdose death
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
In Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Thursday, Richard Harmony’s daughters told the man sentenced for supplying the drugs that caused their father’s death that those drugs took away a man of many talents.
Harmony, 47, who died Oct. 20, 2017, in an apartment in Mahoning Avenue in Austintown, was a cook, fitness devotee, Ozzy Osbourne fan, confidant and friend, the daughters said.
Jerrell Womack, 27, of Oak Street Extension, received a sentence of 91/2 years from Judge Anthony Donofrio for selling the drugs that led to Harmony’s death. He was convicted by a jury May 15 on charges of involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs, aggravated trafficking in drugs, trafficking in cocaine and trafficking in heroin.
Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Trapp said investigators had texts from Harmony’s phone from Womack where Womack said he would sell Harmony heroin and Womack also confessed to Austintown police.
One of Harmony’s daughters, Maria, read a letter to the judge on behalf of an older sister who is in the military and could not attend the sentencing. The older sister wrote she forgives Womack, but her father was a man who had many problems and Womack preyed on those problems, which led to her father’s death.
Another daughter, Katie, said her father was the person who made everything better, who would help her in a tough time.
“My dad always knew what to say when I had a bad day,” she said.
She said they shared movie nights together, and she cherishes the texts he would send her with her nickname.
“He had nicknames for all of us,” she said. “I would give anything I have to see my father’s smile or hear his voice, but all I have are memories.”
Womack declined to speak because he is appealing his convictions. At the time of Harmony’s death, Womack was on parole after serving a sentence for another manslaughter conviction.