YOUNGSTOWN — Brian Donlow Jr. was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing Christopher Jackson Jr. on Nov. 18, 2018, in a car at the corner of Bennington and Stewart avenues on the East Side.

Donlow, 26, of Detroit Avenue, already was serving a sentence of 21 years to life after being convicted last year of another 2018 East Side murder — the shooting death of Brandon Wylie, 30, on June 18, 2018.

Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ordered Donlow’s new sentence be served in addition to his earlier one. The judge handed down both sentences and oversaw both trials.

Donlow is one of three men charged in Jackson’s death. D’Apolito is scheduled to preside over another trial Aug. 3 for the two other men — Stephon Hopkins, 23, and Lorice Moore, 24. Hopkins also was convicted last year with Donlow in the Wylie killing.

Donlow and Hopkins had attorneys in the first trial, but Donlow represented himself in the second one, which ended with D’Apolito finding Donlow guilty on all counts — aggravated murder, murder, attempted aggravated murder and other offenses last month. The judge heard the case without a jury at Donlow’s request.

Said D’Apolito, “The defendant is obviously intelligent, and to stand up in court and represent himself against assistant prosecutors is not easy to do on any day.”

“That just makes this all the more tragic. Of course we have the loss of a family member (Jackson) and one family member who is hurt (Carlos Davis, 24, who was shot but survived), and also the loss of possibility the defendant has if he had chosen a different path,” the judge said.

The judge agreed with the request of Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa that Donlow’s newest murder sentence be stacked on top of his first one and that he serve a sentence for the murder of Jackson, 21, of Warren, and another sentence of 11 to 16 1/2 years in prison for shooting Davis, also of Warren.

Before the hearing started, Donlow filed a motion asking that attorney J.P. Laczko be appointed to represent him during the sentencing and to file the paperwork necessary to appeal the verdict and sentencing. Laczko served as stand-by counsel in the newest case, meaning he attended the trial prepared to step in and take over Donlow’s defense if Donlow asked for that.

Donlow chose not to comment at the hearing “to maintain his innocence,” Laczko told the judge.

Before D’Apolito announced his sentence, Jackson’s sister, Jalonda Carter, told the judge her brother, “C.J,” was the youngest of eight children.

“A big void is felt in our family,” she said. “One sibling is missing. C.J. was free-spirited, kind-hearted, giving, respectful. He never held any grudges. He was an honor student and always had a smile on his face.”

“The thought of not seeing my brother again on earth feels like I’ve died,” she said. “My brother was murdered in the most, demonic and inhumane way.”

erunyan@tribtoday.com