Staff photo / Ed Runyan Kyle Rice, left, tells Judge Anthony Donofrio of his sorrow over killing the mother of three of his children, but maintained that it happened while he defended himself from her. At right is his attorney, Doug Taylor.

YOUNGSTOWN — In sentencing Kyle Rice to 28 years to life in prison for shooting to death Danekua Bankston, 28, the mother of three of his children, Judge Anthony Donofrio said it’s obvious a jury did not believe Rice’s contention that he killed her in self defense.

“Quite honestly, I could’t believe it either, based on the amount of shots fired into this woman. You murdered a beautiful young woman, whose children are now going to grow up without a mother,” the judge said.

Rice shot her eight times Feb. 8, 2019, in the bedroom of her home on Oregon Avenue on Youngstown’s West Side. One of their children was asleep on the bed of the room where the shooting took place.

Rice, 32, had no previous criminal record. And the minimum sentence he could get for aggravated murder with a gun specification was 23 years to life, his attorney, Doug Taylor, said Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. A jury found Rice guilty last month of aggravated murder, murder and gun specifications.

“The parole board rarely grants parole first time out. The highest probability if he gets out on parole, is he will be well into his 60s,” Taylor said in asking for the minimum sentence of 23 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors asked for the highest penalty possible — life without the possibility of parole — said Caitlyn Andrews, assistant prosecutor.

But Donofrio chose the second-highest penalty for aggravated murder– 25 years to life — plus a mandatory three years for using a gun.

‘ACT OR DIE’

In his statement to the judge, Rice maintained that Bankston’s death was not his fault.

Rice apologized “for this situation in which I was not the cause of, but I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart and to my children, Danekua’s family and friends. I didn’t have time to think. There were two options for me — act or die. Words can’t explain my sorrow, my grief, and all I ask for is forgiveness.”

Bankston’s sister, Dajanae Bankston, who was present in her sister’s home at the time that Rice fired the fatal shots, said Rice’s actions crushed the Bankston family.

“The kids don’t have their main role model anymore,” she said. “We all miss her so much. The light of the room is gone. I lost my sister, one of my best friends, because my sister meant the world to me. I lost a part of myself, and our family did as well.”

She said of her sister’s three children, “My heart goes out to my niece and two nephews … because their mother is gone. Every day they miss her. Sometimes they cry about her, and all I can do is hug them and hold them tight and tell them she loved them. She should be here. She should show that beautiful smile of hers. She should be here to accomplish her dreams.”

TRIAL TESTIMONY

Andrews recounted testimony from the trial, noting that Dajanae heard her sister call her name in a scared voice, so she ran up to the second-floor bedroom to check on her sister.

But Rice slammed the door. Dajanae heard her sister say, “Kyle don’t shoot. Kyle don’t shoot,” Andrews said.

Rice then shot her “over and over and over again while their infant child was in the room. She had eight wounds all over her body — in her hand, in her arm, in her thigh, in her hip, in the back of her neck, in her head. He then ran from the house.”

She continued, “He said it was accidental, yet every single shot went into Danekua’s body.”

Andrews said Rice “showed a complete disregard for the life of his children’s mother, and he showed a disregard for the safety of his own son by committing this murder while his son was in the room.”

Their two other children were asleep in another bedroom.

Taylor said a big question is how Rice ended up this way. “He has no record, and he has relationships with other women, and there is no history of domestic violence, nothing in his record.”

Donofrio agreed Rice had “absolutely no prior criminal history and was gainfully employed at the time of this incident.

“However, that certainly doesn’t excuse his conduct. I don’t know what set Mr. Rice off to the point that he took such extreme action that day.”

During the trial, Rice said after he and Danekua went to her room, he nodded off and awoke to her throwing a phone at Rice’s head. Testimony indicated she was angry over what she’d found in Rice’s phone.

“When I turned around, I seen my gun in her hand,” he said. Rice had brought the gun to her apartment in a bag he carries everywhere with him and put the bag on the floor of the bedroom. Rice had a concealed-carry license.

Then Rice said he got hold of Danekua’s hand holding the gun and held it in the air. “We struggled with the gun,” he said. “I’m trying to take the gun. I’m trying to stop the gun from going off.” He said he only heard two shots, then saw a grazing wound on Danekua’s face, “froze,” then left the house. He turned himself in to police a day or so later.

Rice gets credit for about 2 1/2 years in the Mahoning County jail awaiting trial.