YOUNGSTOWN — The tearful 23-year-old defendant looked at his mother and girlfriend, who was carrying his unborn son, and apologized for the criminal acts that he pleaded guilty to on Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Tyree A. Robinson of Indiana Avenue, Girard, pleaded guilty in two cases: one involved the Oct. 12, 2020, drive-by shooting of Tevin Gregory, then age 25, outside a Fairfax Avenue home on the East Side. According to reports, the victim was the ex-boyfriend of a woman who was involved with co-defendant Luis Johnson, who was convicted of attempted murder and felonious assault in May by a jury. The victim survived after being treated at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Prosecutors said Robinson helped Johnson carry out the offenses and was charged with the same two offenses. Both men were arrested a few days after the shooting. At Johnson’s trial, investigators linked Robinson’s burgundy Lincoln MKZ to the case. Police found the vehicle at the Fairview Gardens apartments in Warren one day after the incident.

Assistant Prosecutor Robert Andrews said Johnson had the motive and was given a heavier sentence. Judge Donofrio on June 2 sentenced Johnson to an indefinite prison term of 13 to 15 1/2 years.

Robinson contemplated a plea deal offered by prosecutors which would dismiss the attempted murder charge and the five-year mandatory drive-by shooting specification. He would plead guilty to the felonious assault charge thar carried a mandatory three-year prison sentence served before any sentence imposed by Judge Anthony Donofrio.

“I hope I can get out before I’m 30,” Robinson told his mother as he decided to accept the deal.

Donofrio sentenced Robinson to an indefinite sentence totaling seven to nine years in prison. He was credited for more than 200 days he already has served in Mahoning County jail.The judge told Robinson that after his release he could face between 18 months and three years of supervision under the Ohio Parole Authority.

When it was his time to speak, Robinson apologized to everyone, including the victim, for his actions.

“I am not a violent person. I work every day and don’t try to cause harm to anybody, but I have to take responsibility… I hung with the wrong kind of people,” he told the judge fighting back tears.

Robinson also pleaded guilty to an unrelated 2022 case of having weapons while under disability and possession of a fentanyl-related compound. For that plea, the judge sentenced him to three years in prison that will be served concurrent to his other term.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com