Staff photo / Ed Runyan Javier Hill, 24, is seen with his attorney, Lynn Maro, during Hill’s plea hearing Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

YOUNGSTOWN — Javier A. Hill, 24, pleaded guilty Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to discharging a firearm into a home and a gun specification.

The plea is connected to an 11:20 a.m. Aug. 8, 2021, incident in which he fired into a home on Saranac Avenue near Ohio Avenue.

Prosecutors and defense are jointly recommending that Hill get three to four years in prison. He will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. April 9 after the Community Corrections Association of Youngstown carries out a presentence investigation of Hill’s criminal history and background.

Prosecutors say the morning of the incident, police believe someone from inside the apartment fired at a vehicle containing Hill’s sister, hitting her in the chest. She suffered non-fatal injuries.

Evidence indicated that Hill also fired at the building, said Nick Brevetta, assistant county prosecutor. Police were unable to file charges against anyone in the building, Brevetta said.

Lynn Maro, Hill’s attorney, told Judge John Durkin during the hearing that the episode “started with Javier Hill’s sister being jumped and beaten up, then he, and his sister and several other people drove over to Saranac.”

Brevetta said there was no evidence of time or place of an earlier assault on Hill’s sister, only a text message from Hill indicating he was going to take revenge for something that he said happened to his sister.

She said scientific evidence came back from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation that was favorable to Hill, indicating that bullets were fired from the Saranac address, “should the case have gone to trial.”

That information was part of the plea negotiations, Maro said.

Hill pleaded guilty before Durkin, who dismissed other charges in exchange for Hill’s guilty plea. Durkin told Hill that as long as Hill stays out of trouble, the judge will follow the recommended prison sentence of three to four years.

Hill has only a misdemeanor criminal record aside from the Saranac incident, according to common pleas court and Youngstown Municipal Court records.

erunyan@vindy.com