By ED RUNYAN

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — Jesse B. Williams, 53, brother of infamous Youngstown murderer Willie “Flip” Williams, was sentenced to life in prison without parole Tuesday for killing Diane Dent, 62 at her Goleta Avenue home in June 2018.

Williams, of South Forest Avenue, was convicted at trial of aggravated murder, murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm last month in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Prosecutors say Williams went to Dent’s house to shoot her son, Anttwon Dent, over an earlier incident, but Diane Dent answered the door, so he shot her instead.

A co-defendant, Rebecca Perez, 47, of Austintown, was also initially charged with murder in the killing, but she later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of obstruction of justice and received probation.

She initally did not cooperate with police but later testified against Williams at his trial. Prosecutors say Williams threatened Perez to get her to tell him where Anttwon Dent lived.

Williams admitted to shooting Diane Dent — but said it was an accident. He said he went to the North Side home looking for Dent’s son, but Diane Dent told him her son wasn’t there, so Williams turned to leave. When the door opened behind him, he feared for his life and fired, Williams said.

His brother Flip Williams was executed in October 2005 at age 48 for the murders of four people inside an East Side house in 1991. It was known as the “Labor Day Massacre.” He had recently returned to the city from California, where he had served time in prison, and wanted to eliminate his rivals in the drug trade. He invited three of the men to the home and killed them. A fourth man was apparently an unintended victim who had just come home from leave in the military and went to the house with a friend.

After Williams was arrested, he broke out of the old Mahoning County jail when it was next to the courthouse on Boardman Street.

He was arrested again after breaking into the county juvenile justice center on Scott Street in order to get to juvenile witnesses who were being held there. Williams had an accomplice dress in a police uniform and pretend to escort Williams in as a prisoner.

erunyan@tribtoday.com