Staff photo / Ed Runyan Derrick L. Stennis, 33, of Boardman, is seen Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court with his attorney, Jim Wise, during Stennis’ sentencing hearing. He appealed to Judge Anthony D’Apolito many times during the hearing to be set free on probation instead of prison but the judge held firm.

YOUNGSTOWN — Derrick L. Stennis, 33, of Boardman, was sentenced to two to three years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty earlier to burglary, domestic violence and abduction in an Aug. 9 incident in which he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, assaulted her and stole her purse, according to a Boardman police report.

The hearing took place in front of local students who were there to observe what goes on in the Mahoning County Courthouse for the Mahoning County Bar Association’s annual Law Day activities.

Stennis spent most of the hearing disagreeing with the idea that Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court might give him prison time while discussing the facts of the case, even after Stennis had pleaded guilty earlier to the charges related to the offenses. Generally, by that point in the case, a defendant will remain silent or offer an apology for their actions.

However, Stennis denied committing a burglary and denied assaulting the woman but wanted the judge to believe that “I won’t bother her, and I just ask if you can tell me a way to be able to see my daughter.”

Reciting a fact from the case, the judge said that Stennis had taken his daughter from the victim without permission.

Stennis said he did that “because I thought she was in a bad environment.” He said a friend’s sister was killed because “of somebody shooting a house up, and stuff was happening to the house she was at,” he said of his daughter.

Stennis said some of the allegations are not true. “I didn’t break into the house,” he said.

Stennis got credit for about nine months in the Mahoning County jail awaiting trial.

BURGLARY

The victim in the case told Boardman police that Stennis rushed her from behind about 1:45 p.m. as she was trying to enter her apartment.

She said Stennis pushed her onto the couch and “manhandled” her as he aggressively questioned her about whether she was seeing another man, according to the report. The woman was able to get away, retrieve her handgun from another room and call police.

She held Stennis at gunpoint, according to the report, while she was on the phone, warning him to leave. He did, and officers saw him fleeing the apartment when they arrived.

Before officers arrived, however, Stennis made his way back into the apartment, and the woman said she saw him grab her purse and run away.

She told police she believed he used a key he had stolen the night before. The purse contained her Apple AirPods, ID, car keys, Social Security cards and birth certificates for her and her daughter.

She told police Stennis had continued to harass and abuse her since she ended their relationship, according to the police report.

The child abduction took place Aug. 3, according to Stennis’ indictment. The police report stated that Stennis kidnapped their daughter, but the child was recovered and returned to her mother. The domestic violence charge also was from Aug. 3.

Kevin Day, assistant county prosecutor, said the victim agreed with the plea agreement that was reached.

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