YOUNGSTOWN — Traylor C. Johnson, 22, of Mistletoe Avenue told Judge Anthony D’Apolito Thursday he was defending himself Nov. 29, 2018, when he shot and killed Derrick Franklin, 23, in the All City Sports Bar on Mahoning Avenue.

Johnson said he and Franklin were in a dispute over a woman. “I was in fear for my life,” Johnson said, adding he tried to “defuse the situation multiple times.”

Judge D’Apolito sentenced Johnson to the maximum of 14 years in prison.

Franklin and Johnson ended up at the same bar that day. Franklin and his friends were there to remember a relative who was killed one year earlier.

The two “acknowleged” each other a few times inside the small, crowded bar, said Mike Yacovone, assistant county prosecutor. Franklin and his friends and Johnson left the bar at the same time, and Johnson shot Franklin multiple times outside of view of the bar’s surveillance cameras, Yacovone said.

Only one person talked to law enforcement about what he or she saw, but that person was not willing to testify at trial, Yacovone told the judge.

“Nobody is winning here. It’s an unhappy resolution,” he said of the plea agreement that had Johnson pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter instead of aggravated murder.

Yacovone asked the judge to give Johnson the maximum sentence, describing Johnson as the one who provoked the conflict that day.

“He shows up, he makes his presence known, we would allege taunts Mr. Franklin in a way, gesturing toward having a firearm,” Yacovone said. Surveillance video from the bar showed that Johnson at one point patted his upper left chest area, apparently letting Franklin know he was carrying a gun, Yacovone said.

“Derrick Franklin would be alive if Traylor doesn’t go there that night to start trouble. Derrick Franklin would be alive if Traylor Johnson doesn’t have a gun on him that night,” he said. “Derrick Franklin would be alive if Traylor Johnson doesn’t initiate this encounter that left that young man dead and his family here mourning.”

Atty. John Juhasz, who represents Johnson, noted that Johnson has never been convicted of a felony, only one misdemeanor.

Judge D’Apolito said he can understand Johnson being afraid because of the dispute with Franklin. But he said: “If he was so afraid of his safety from the victim, when he walked into this establishment, and the victim is there and allegedly the victim had shot at him, why would he stay there?”

erunyan@tribtoday.com