Murder nets man 15 to life
Beat a 76-year-old to death in Campbell
YOUNGSTOWN — R’Trell D. Miller, 23, of Reed Avenue in Campbell, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday and was sentenced to the only punishment he could get — 15 years to life in prison — in the Oct. 5 beating death of James Mszanski, 76.
Lynn Maro, Mahoning County prosecutor, said Wednesday Miller bludgeoned Mszanski to death inside of Mszanski’s apartment, which is at the corner of Main and Walter Streets in Campbell. Miller and Mszanski knew each other, Maro said. Mszanski was found unresponsive in the apartment. It is not known what the motive was for Miller to kill Mszanski, she said.
“Initially they thought it was a shooting because of the amount of blood and the appearance of the victim, but later it was determined that this was a beating,” Maro said.
Witnesses identified Miller as the person leaving the apartment, Maro said.
Blood was found on Miller’s shoes, but there was not enough to test to determine whether the blood was Mszanski’s. About 1 p.m. Oct. 8, Campbell police served an arrest and search warrant at Miller’s Reed Avenue home and arrested him, despite his effort to flee, according to Vindicator files.
A Campbell police report stated that officers were called to the building just after 8 p.m. Oct. 5 for reports of a gunshot and a man seen running away from the apartment building.
Police entered the home and found Mszanski with visible wounds to his face, and blood on the couch and other places around the room. There was evidence suggesting that he may have been shot, the police report stated. Police tried to track Miller on the night of the murder using a police dog and other means, but were unsuccessful. They found a car in the driveway, still running.
Miller was indicted on one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, and one count of felonious assault, but pleaded guilty to one of the two counts of murder. His indictment states that Miller “purposely” caused Mszanski’s death.
John Juhasz, chief of the criminal division of the prosecutor’s office, handled the plea and sentencing, which was overseen by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum. Maro said she and Juhasz would have been in the courtroom prosecuting the case Monday if Miller had not taken the plea.
Juhasz told Krichbaum during the hearing that Mszanski’s daughter could not make it to the hearing Wednesday.
“She does understand the plea offer that is being made here today,” Juhasz said. He passed on the comment the woman told him, saying “she hopes whatever sentence the court imposes gets justice for her father.”
The aggravated murder charge, which was dismissed, accused Miller of killing Mszanski with prior calculation and design and could have resulted in a longer prison sentence.
During the hearing, Krichbaum asked if it is correct that the three charges that the prosecutor’s office asked to be dismissed are “alternatives to the charge to which the defendant is pleading,” and Juhasz said they are. “So yes, they all apply to the same victim and the same set of events,” Juhasz said.
The judge said that in the “old days, this type of case would have one charge. And (for the) collateral charges, the jury would be instructed on those if during the course of a trial, it became appropriate to so instruct the jury. I’ve never understood why your predecessor indicted people for six or seven different ways of describing the same conduct.”
Krichbaum was referring to those in charge of the prosecutor’s office before Maro was elected Nov. 5. Her first day was Jan. 6.
The judge said he understands that the “dismissal of those other (three charges in Miller’s indictment) is justified under the circumstances.”
Miller did not speak to the judge before sentencing. He gets credit for 107 days of jail credit applied to his prison sentence.
During Maro’s campaign for county prosecutor, she criticized the number of times that murder cases in recent years were reduced to something other than a life prison sentence. About 65% were reduced to manslaughter or lower, and those charges do not require a life prison sentence, she said.
“My goal is on a murder case, it should be a life sentence,” she said. “I’ve never been critical of plea bargaining. It is necessary to keep things moving,” she said.