YOUNGSTOWN — Though police know relatively little about the Feb. 21, 2022, shooting death of Lamar Reed, 22, they know one thing: the DNA of Robert L. Weaver III, 38, was left behind at the scene on the back of an earring.

On Wednesday, Weaver was sentenced to 14 to 19 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and a gun specification in the death of Reed, whose body was found at the corner of Donald and North Belle Vista avenues on the West Side.

Patrick Fening, assistant Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, said there were no witnesses to the shooting, and no gun was recovered. Reed was found with multiple gunshot wounds. Youngstown police released relatively little information on the shooting when it happened, saying Reed was found in the middle of Donald Avenue and had been shot where he was found.

Weaver was indicted in the case in July 2022 after the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation reported Weaver’s DNA on evidence found at the scene.

Weaver told Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court he wished the matter was “something I could take back where everybody could live.”

He apologized “for the way everything happened. I wish it could have been different.”

SEPARATE INCIDENT

Sweeney also sentenced Weaver to an additional 18 months in prison during Wednesday’s hearing for an incident Aug. 13, 2020, that resulted in Weaver pleading guilty Wednesday to felony vehicular assault.

The two sentences together equal 15 1/2 to 21 years in prison. He gets credit for 274 days c served in jail awaiting trial.

In that case, Weaver, who had a South Turner Road address in Canfield, crossed over the center line and hit another vehicle coming the opposite direction head-on along U.S. Route 422 in Youngstown. A passenger in Weaver’s vehicle was injured badly and so was the driver of the other vehicle. Weaver had been chased by a Coitsville Township police officer prior to the crash, but the officer cut off the case.

A crash report by the Ohio State Highway Patrol stated Kimberly Jackson, 44, of Youngstown, driver of the other vehicle, suffered two broken legs, one broken knee, a shattered pelvis and a broken hip and her vehicle was destroyed.

Weaver also suffered two broken legs, and his passenger, Dionandre D. Etheridge, 38, of Youngstown, suffered one broken leg and multiple lacerations.

The crash took place at 11:43 p.m., a short time after Coitsville Township police ended a chase of Weaver’s vehicle at U.S. Route 422 at Courtland Avenue because of high speed, estimated at being more than 100 mph, the highway patrol stated.

The chase started at Route 422 at Jacobs Road after Weaver traveled left of center and police suspected he was intoxicated.

The crash occurred on Route 422 near the ESA Park Apartments, which is about a half mile from Courtland Avenue.

Weaver pleaded guilty to a charge OVI / physical control in Campbell Municipal Court and driving 106 mph in a 35 mph zone in the incident.

When a trooper with the highway patrol asked Weaver what happened, he said he had left a bar and the police tried to “stop me for no reason, and I was mad.” He estimated he was driving about 80 mph.

Weaver said he crossed over into the oncoming traffic because he was going too fast. He admitted he had been drinking earlier and had been smoking marijuana.

Jackson told police she was on her way home from work at the time of the crash.

CIVIL CASE

Sweeney also presided over the civil suit Jackson filed against Weaver over the crash.

In January, the judge adopted the decision of her magistrate and found that Weaver caused a “severe head-on collision to her car and caused severe injury to her person.” Jackson provided records indicating her medical bills were $385,401, and the judge ruled that Jackson was entitled to $1.1 million for past and true medical bills, pain and suffering and permanent injury.

erunyan@vindy.com