YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews told Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony D’Apolito on Tuesday that the night Zariyan Dothard, 19, was shot to death outside a home in the 500 block of East Judson Avenue on the South Side, Lyndale Wilkins Jr., now 19, and his sister went there. Andrews did not say why.

Dothard was inside the South Side home with two other people on June 11, 2024, but went outside, while the two people from inside stayed inside, Andrews said.

“They both claimed that they did not see what happened. They heard some arguing, and they heard a gunshot.” When they went outside, “Mr. Dothard was in the driveway. (Wilkins) at that time was gone,” Andrews said.

Wilkins, who was sentenced Tuesday to 6 to 7 1/2 years in prison in Dothard’s death, went to his father’s home after leaving East Judson Avenue, Andrews said. Wilkins “told his father what happened. I believe it was his father who called 911. The police responded to their house. They got the gun. They spoke with (Lyndell Wilkins Jr.), and he made a statement,” Andrews said.

“His sister also made a statement. However, she stated from where she was, she did not see what happened,” Andrews said.

Wilkins is claiming self defense.

Andrews said he has explained to members of Zariyan Dothard’s family “that with self defense, the law has changed. It used to be that someone asserts self defense, and they have to prove that they did it in self defense,” Andrews said.

“The law has now changed, where now the (prosecution) has to prove that he didn’t act in self defense,” Andrews said. “I believe they understand that, not that they are happy,” he said.

But the prosecution is also not happy recommending that Wilkins get 6 to 7 1/2 years in prison with Wilkins pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and a gun specification, he said.

“But we are left with the facts that we have, what we can prove,” Andrews said.

Later in the hearing, Andrews said the plea agreement was reached because “the chances if we went to trial of the state securing a conviction would be quite slim.”

Andrews said the plea agreement is “not what anyone is happy with, but it’s something in this case we have to accept because it is better than going to trial and him walking out with absolutely nothing.”

Youngstown police provided little information about the circumstances of Dothard’s death except to say that at essentially the same time as officers were called to the home where Dothard was shot, the family of Lyndale Wilkins Jr. turned him in to police. Police were alerted to the shooting at 10:10 p.m. Dothard died later at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Wilkins was 17, five weeks away from turning 18, at the time of the killing. He could have gotten 18 years to life in prison if he would have been convicted of murder and a gun specification — the charges that Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick bound over to adult court in December of 2024.

Surprisingly, Wilkins’ charges remained with various Mahoning County grand juries throughout 2025 until the case was finally scheduled for a plea in October in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court without him having been indicted. The plea was postponed for another couple of months, until Tuesday.

Because Wilkins was never indicted, prosecutors charged Wilkins under a bill of information, and Wilkins agreed at the beginning of the hearing to resolve his case that way and waive his right to have his case presented to a grand jury.

Brittany Dothard, aunt of Zariyan Dothard, spoke at the hearing, saying Zariyan’s parents are “falling apart because this is so unfair to us.” She asked that D’Apolito “give (Wilkins) the maximum you can give him.”

D’Apolito told the woman, “I understand what you want. And I’m not happy either.” He added that his understanding is that no one witnessed the shooting.

D’Apolito said he knows it may not change the family’s mind, but “There will be a conviction. There will be prison time. There will be something.”

She said, “I’m grateful for that.”

Wilkins gets credit for 553 days spent locked up awaiting trial.