YOUNGSTOWN — Three of six defendants will now go on trial March 30 in the shooting death of a young woman killed while holding her small child on McBride Street.

Late Wednesday, Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court accepted a guilty plea from Joquan Blair, 23, to involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy and a gun specification in the Jan. 24, 2019, shooting death of Crystal Hernandez, 23.

He is the third defendant in the case to plead guilty this week.

The others are Burton McGee, 20, and Martize Daniels, 19. That leaves Marquise Torres-Willis, 22; Maurice Redrick, 20; and Larenz Rhodes, 19, to stand trial March 30.

Prosecutors will recommend that Blair get 20 years in prison. He will be sentenced after the cases against three co-defendants still going on trial are complete.

The Hernandez shooting culminated a day of conflict among a large group, including those six and two other men, one of whom was shot to death recently.

Officials have said Jan. 24 began with shots being fired at Gabriel Smith, 19, of McBride Street. In retaliation, Smith and Lavante Perry, 24, of Woodcrest Drive, fired gunshots at Daniels at a home on McGuffey Road.

And finally, a group of males went to McBride Street looking for Smith and Perry, who were not there. But Smith’s girlfriend, Hernandez and her son, were there. Hernandez was hit in the neck as she shielded the child. The boy was not injured.

Police said the the initial shootings were over stolen drugs and money. Smith was sentenced to five years in prison in October for his role in the events. Perry, who was the shooter in the Daniels shooting, was found shot to death Dec. 11 in a home on Woodcrest. Perry was scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

news@tribtoday.com