YOUNGSTOWN — Elijah Carlisle, 17, will spend about the next four years in an Ohio Department of Youth Services lockup after admitting May 23 to involuntary manslaughter in the killing of 14-year-old Landon Lockhart in late 2021 and other crimes.

He will be detained until age 21, Judge Theresa Dellick of Mahoning County Juvenile Court said Wednesday during Carlisle’s sentencing hearing. That sentence includes three years on the involuntary manslaughter charge and three years on a specification that a gun was used in commission of a crime.

Carlisle admitted he was in the car with two other juveniles charged in the case, as well as Lockhart, the day Lockhart was killed, according to remarks at Carlisle’s plea hearing May 23. But Carlisle maintains he never got out of the car.

Carlisle testified in juvenile court as to what he knows about Lockhart’s death and may be called to testify if his co-defendants, Anthony Wilkins and Anjuan Whitfield, both also 17, go to trial.

Dellick transferred the cases of Wilkins and Whitfield to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to be tried as adults. First, a common pleas court grand jury will consider whether to indict them.

Carlisle admitted May 23 to the involuntary manslaughter with a gun specification but also was found guilty as a serious youthful offender, meaning he also could spend 11 years in an adult prison if he fails to follow the rules while detained in a DYS facility, sometimes referred to as juvenile prison.

Carlisle also admitted to other charges May 23 — improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and carrying concealed weapons in another case and possessing a deadly weapon while under detention. The latter charge was for possessing a homemade weapon while in the juvenile justice center, said Anissa Modarelli, assistant county prosecutor.

During the hearing, Dellick gave Carlisle three opportunities to make a statement, only offering this comment the second time: “No, just my apologies for everything that happened.”

His attorney, Michael Kivlighen, said he thought Carlisle was going to offer a more heartfelt apology, including remarks he made about how sorry he was that he did not listen to his mother when she told him not to spend time with one or more of the co-defendants.

Kivlighen said Carlisle was “not part of the ‘beef’ with Whitfield” and did not know Lockhart as much as Whitfield. Kivlighen said that since Carlisle was charged, Carlisle has been “completely truthful with Youngstown police,” adding that the case has been a “huge lesson for him.”

Landon’s mother, Lajena Solomon, was allowed to speak: “I don’t see any remorse coming from this child. No matter what his lawyer says, he’s not remorseful.

“Even though he’s not remorseful, he still has to answer to God,” Solomon said.

She said she forgives Carlisle but said she hoped the judge “takes everything from you.”

To help Carlisle understand how the juvenile and adult sanctions work together, the judge said that if Carlisle committed rules violations in DYS and DYS decided to impose adult sanctions when Carlisle was 20 years old, then Carlisle would serve 11 more years and would be 31 years old when he was released. The additional three years for the gun specification would have already been served by then, the judge said.

It’s not clear when Carlisle will be transferred from the juvenile justice center to DYS,Dellick said.