Sean Bell Sr. got emotional when he spoke Tuesday about the shooting death of his son, Sean Bell II, in Campbell. Myckle Hughes of Campbell, pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery in the death. Staff photo / Ed Runyan

YOUNGSTOWN — Myckle J. Hughes, 24, of Campbell, did not provide any answers Tuesday during his plea and sentencing hearing as to the reason he killed Sean Bell II, 18, on Aug. 21, 2018, on Oak Street Extension in Campbell.

Hughes will spend 22 years in prison with credit for 3 1/2 years he has been in the Mahoning County jail awaiting trial, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John Durkin announced at the end of the hearing.

Hughes did not speak during the hearing, leaving it up to an assistant prosecutor to offer some ideas of what led to the Youngstown man’s killing.

Hughes, who was facing trial on aggravated murder, pleaded guilty instead to involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery and a three-year gun specification. Bell’s family agreed to the recommendation of the prosecutor’s office that Hughes get 22 years in prison, Kevin Day, assistant prosecutor, said.

“The defendant’s actions in this case, quite frankly, can’t be understood,” Day said. “He shot a young man for items in his pocket that didn’t amount to much of anything.

“He took the life of somebody who had a significant future,” Day said. “If his family is any indication, Sean Bell must have been an extraordinary young man. He was a kid who was going to college in the fall. The defendant shot him in the back of the head while they were driving down Oak Hill Extension, and he left him there.”

Bell recently had graduated from Chaney High School at the time of his death.

Day said there is nothing prosecutors can do to “repair the hole that must be in the hearts of his family members. But the 22-year recommendation, I believe, does adequately protect the public and punish the defendant.”

Bell’s father, Sean Bell Sr., said his son was planning to go to college and become a cardiologist. “He was an excellent child, an excellent person,” he said.

Zena told Durkin that Hughes “never committed a crime in his life” before this case. Zena said he believes the resolution of this case had a lot to do with Hughes’ father, who is an officer in the Ohio prison system, who “looked at his son and said ‘I don’t know if this will help you make your decision, but … if you get convicted, it will kill me.'”

The only information Campbell police provided on the killing was that police responded to the scene of a car accident but found Bell’s body with gunshot wounds inside the vehicle.