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WARREN -- The Youngstown man who had requested that his house arrest be limited because he was recording rap music now will have to put his career on hold for 30 more months.
Derek J. Sanders, 25, of West Town Street, Youngstown, was sentenced Tuesday to the prison term after his conviction late last year on aggravated assault and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle for his part in a shooting April 14, 2021, at the Oak Tree Apartments off Hadley Avenue in Liberty.
At a sentencing hearing Tuesday, Sanders told Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Andrew D. Logan why he shot a man in the parking lot of the apartment complex. He said the Youngstown man had scared him and his girlfriend after they were coming home in the early morning. He said he acted when he thought the man, identified as Dwayne Fields, went to his car and was reaching for a gun.
"My brother was shot and killed, and that's the reason why I carry a gun," Sanders told the judge.
Fields was shot in the back and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
As part of the sentence, Logan had to add a year to the sentence because a gun was used in the offense.
Sanders, a rap music recording artist who graduated from Austintown Fitch High School, was working out of a Mahoning Avenue, Youngstown, recording studio at the time. His lawyer, Samuel Amendalora, asked the judge to consider a minimum sentence of 12 months, while the prosecution had requested the 30-month term.
Liberty Township police Chief Toby Meloro said at the time of the shooting the bullets easily could have gone into the apartment building and hurt innocent people.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com