YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The second of three people charged with shooting up a house in May was sentenced on Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to at least four years in prison.
Judge R. Krichbaum handed down the sentence to Davontae Miller, 19, of Youngstown, who earlier pleaded guilty to improper discharge of a firearm at or into a habitation, a second-degree felony.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Miller will serve a sentence of one year for a firearm specification and then a sentence of three to four and a half years in prison on the improper discharge count.
The sentence was recommended by the attorneys in the case and upheld by Judge Krichbaum.
Miller and two others were charged after police on May 17 answered a gunshot sensor call in the 200 block of East Avondale Avenue and saw a car leave at a high rate of speed.
Police chased the car, which crashed into a tree on Cambridge Avenue. Assistant Prosecutor Michael Rich said Miller ran from the car and threw a handgun at police. He was caught after a brief foot chase.
No one was injured in the shooting. Police found 30 shell casings in the street, reports said.
Miller’s lawyer, Frank Cassese, told the judge that his client has no criminal record and was set to receive a football scholarship. Miller had a 3.2 grade-point average in high school, Cassese said.
But substance issues plus the people he was spending time with led to a series of bad decisions that culminated in him being arrested and going to prison, Cassese said.
“There was a lot of promise, a lot of investment in him, Cassese said. “To me, this is one of those, ‘you show me your friends, I’ll show you your future’ type things.”
His client has no prior criminal record. Cassese said he is still young enough to make a life for himself when he gets out of prison but his decisions that night are decisions that are still life-altering.
“There’s a lot of potential here, judge,’ Cassese told Judge Krichbaum.
Miller apologized to his family and to the people in the house he was accused of shooting at.
“I didn’t set a good example [for my siblings],” he said. “Hopefully, when I get out, I’ll start a new life.”
Judge Krichbaum called Miller’s remarks “intelligent” and “well thought out.” The judge said what has to happen to people in his situation is they need to realize the consequences their families will face when they participate in criminal activity with guns.
“Nobody ever thinks, ‘What’s going to happen to my family if I go down?'” Judge Krichbaum said.
Last week Miller’s cousin Dante Miller, 19, received the same sentence. Rich said all three defendants were offered the same plea deal with the same recommended sentence and all three accepted that offer.
The third defendant, William Huff, 19, will be sentenced on Tuesday.
