Lavontae E. Knight pleads guilty to second 2018 killing

YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County prosecutors considered not prosecuting Lavontae E. Knight, 27, for one of the two homicides he committed in 2018. Knight got 58 years to life in prison last September for killing Trevice Harris and wounding Harris' girlfriend on Dec. 30, 2018, on the city's South Side.

Afterward, prosecutors had to decide whether to prosecute Knight for the Oct. 25, 2018, shooting death of Josh Donatelli, 26, at Donatelli's home on Imperial Street on the West Side.

They ultimately did go forward with the additional prosecution, but it did not make Knight's prison sentence any longer. Judge John Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court approved an agreed-upon sentence of eight years in prison Tuesday after Knight pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Donatelli's death.

Knight was indicted on aggravated murder in Donatelli's death, but prosecutors dismissed that and several other charges in exchange for Knight's plea. The additional sentence will be served at the same time as last year's sentence.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said the lengthy sentence Knight got in the other case is the reason prosecutors agreed to this plea agreement. Knight was convicted at trial of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of kidnapping and one count of felonious assault in the Harris killing.

CLOSURE

For Donatelli's family, prosecutors secured a guilty plea to causing Donatelli's death, even though he was not convicted of causing it on purpose. Donatelli's mother did not speak at the hearing, but she was in agreement with the plea agreement and sentencing, Andrews said.

Knight's attorney, Lou DeFabio, said he believed the plea agreement "should provide some closure, at least, for the family." Knight did not offer any statement before he was sentenced.

Knight's co-defendant in the Donatelli case, George Gutierres, 32, pleaded guilty in December 2019 to cocaine possession in the case and was subpoenaed to testify at Knight's trial, which was scheduled to begin Monday. Gutierres has not yet been sentenced.

The Knight case involving Donatelli is the case that resulted in Durkin removing Dawn Cantalamessa, former Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, from the case after Knight's attorney, David Betras, successfully argued that Cantalamessa did not turn over evidence helpful to the defense in a timely manner.

Durkin also ruled that Cantalamessa lied to the judge on another matter. Cantalamessa later resigned from the Mahoning County Prosecutors' Office and accepted a similar position in Ashtabula County.

OTHER KILLING

It appeared key testimony that convicted Knight in the Harris killing came from the surviving victim, Harris' girlfriend, who testified to seeing Harris talking to Knight at two funerals in the weeks before she was shot and Harris was killed. She said she saw Knight "clearly," and also had seen Knight at a barber shop and and at a house prior to the shootings.

And she identified Knight, who she knew as "Slim," as the person who shot them when she called 911 that night and identified Knight as the person who shot them during her testimony Tuesday. She pointed to Knight in the courtroom.

The recording of her 911 call was played for the jury. It was difficult to hear most of what she said because of her emotional state, but when the call taker asked who shot her and her boyfriend, she said "Slim."

Police said Knight is the half-brother of Edward Morris, 21, who was shot to death in an ambush-style killing Nov. 11, 2018, along with his girlfriend, Valarcia Blair, 19; and her 3-month-old son, Tariq.

Shaiqon Sharpe and his cousin, Taquashon Ray, were convicted of those murders and were sentenced in February 2022 to 107 years to life in prison.