Man who served prison time for manslaughter pleads guilty to gun charge

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A man who served a prison sentence for the wounding of one man and the death of another pleaded guilty Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a gun charge.

Attorneys are recommending a sentence of 18 months in prison for Kevon Williams, 33, who entered a guilty plea before Judge Anthony Donofrio to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a third-degree felony.

Sentencing will be at a later date.

Reports said police arrested Williams on April 5 after officers pulled over a car he was driving at about 10:30 p.m. Friday at Hillman Street and West Avondale Avenue for an improper turn.

Williams and a female passenger both told police there were no weapons in the car when asked, reports said. Reports said Williams told police that the car belonged to the female and she tried to find the registration in her purse but could not, reports said.

When asked for permission to search the car, Williams said it wasn’t his car and the female would not give permission, reports said. Reports said she looked in the glove compartment for the registration, but as she did, she slid a piece of clothing inside. When officers asked her to take the clothing out, they could see a .22-caliber pistol inside, reports said.

The woman told police that the gun belonged to Williams and he put it in the glove compartment when they were stopped, reports said. When Williams was searched, police found suboxone in one of his pockets, reports said.

Williams was charged with a Dec. 4, 2012, shooting of a man at a Lansdowne Boulevard market and the death of David Jackson, 26, whose body was found in February 2013 in a heavily wooded area of the Sharon Line on the East Side.

At the time, police said Jackson was killed and the other man shot because they were involved in a robbery with Williams and they shorted him on the profits.

Part of Jackson’s body was found by a man’s dog and other dogs belonging to the same man brought back several bones from the skeleton. Police bought in a cadaver sniffing dog from another law enforcement agency, but that dog never found any of Jackson’s remains.

DNA was used to identify the bones.

In February 2015, Williams pleaded guilty to charges of felonious assault, involuntary manslaughter and abuse of a corpse and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with credit for 407 days in the county jail while awaiting the disposition of his case.

Records from the state Department of Corrections show that Williams was released from prison in November. He is presently on parole.

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