Dellick found him delinquent β the juvenile equivalent of guilty β on a charge of reckless homicide, with a three-year gun specification. Masiahs was charged with murder in the Nov. The reckless homicide count is equal to a third-degree felony for an adult.
With the three-year gun specification, Ohio law mandates that Masiahs serve the full three years, on top of additional time Dellick likely will impose.
By law, Gentry could remain in an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility until his 21st birthday. Modarelli said that had Masiahs admitted to an accidental shooting, she would have charged it as a reckless homicide and not a murder, though she still would have included the firearms specification.
As it stands, she said she will ask for the state minimum of six months in addition to the three-year firearm specification, which would see Masiahs incarcerated for 42 months. She said he has been in Mahoning County juvenile detention for just over days and will receive credit for time served when Dellick hands down his sentence.
His attorney, John Shultz, said in July that body camera video from police on the scene showed Masiahs hysterical, crying earnestly and saying he would never kill his best friend. Dellick found that his hysterical demeanor was much more likely the result of shock that he had indeed shot his friend.
