YOUNGSTOWN — The families of two shooting victims accepted the terms of a plea agreement that sent their loved ones’ killer to prison, but that did not mean they were satisfied.

“Whatever the sentence is, if it’s 15 years or more, my mom still can’t come back after that’s over,” Delonte Kalasky said.

That was the sentence imposed by Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John Durkin on Thursday morning, after Mikese Stevens, 24, pleaded guilty to the Dec. 20 2022, shooting deaths of Kimberly A. Kalasky, 41, and Joseph L. Sanders, 51, at a home on Cherry Hill Avenue on Youngstown’s West Side.

Per the terms of the agreement, the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office agreed to drop two firearm specifications and recommend concurrent sentencing.

“Whatever agreement could be reached here, it could never bring back the tragic loss of life,” Durkin said. “Some people here today have asked why. I’m afraid I cannot answer that.”

Durkin said all he could do was impose the sentence recommended by Criminal Division Chief Prosecutor Rob Andrews — two sentences of 15 years to life, one for each victim, to run concurrently. Stevens received credit for 470 days already served.

The person asking why was Sanders’s sister, Lareese Fields.

“I don’t hate nobody, I’m not angry at nobody, I just want to know why,” she said through tears.

Delonte Kalasky said he just cannot live his life the same way anymore.

“I can’t play sports the same way, I can’t live life the same way, because I can’t hear my mom there,” he said.

Kalasky’s brother, Dylan, said the loss hurts more because of his former relationship with Stevens.

“For it to be my old best friend — someone that you grew up with, and made memories with — who somehow decided one day to take my mom’s life,” he said. “She was on her way to a better life and he chose to take it from her at that moment.”

The attorneys also made statements before Durkin passed sentencing.

Defense Attorney Rhys Cartwright-Jones said Stevens, while not properly diagnosed with any definitive mental illness, does have a history of auditory and visual hallucinations. He said they were a factor in the shootings, although a court-ordered psychological evaluation of Stevens found he did not meet the state’s standard for an insanity plea.

Cartwright-Jones also said his client has been remorseful throughout the legal process.

In his career, he said: “this is one of the men who does not impress me as a vicious horrible human being.”

Andrews said he understands the families’ grief, but that the plea deal was the best way to close out a long, difficult case with some justice.

“Even though they may not quite agree with this, I believe they understand why we are doing what we’re doing,” he said.