YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The attorney for a man who was shot to death last month is opposing a request by prosecutors to keep $300 her client promised to forfeit in a drug case where he pleaded guilty.
Defense attorney Lynn Maro wrote that her client, Lamar Reid, 22, was shot and killed before he was sentenced after he pleaded guilty Jan. 27 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a third degree felony charge of possession of cocaine.
Maro wrote in a motion to Judge Anthony Donofrio that a person is not convicted until they are sentenced. She also cited case law from the Ohio Supreme Court that states that guilty plea by itself does not mean a person is convicted.
Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Trapp argued in his own brief that the Ohio Revised Code says a person can be liable to a forfeiture specification if they plead guilty to an offense.
Reed was shot and killed about 9:15 p.m. Feb. 20 on Donald Avenue on the West Side. Police have yet to make an arrest in the case.
The same day Reed pleaded guilty to the drug charge he also pleaded guilty to unrelated charges of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer and vehicular assault after a Jan. 19, 2021 collision following a police chase on the South Side that injured three people.
As part of his plea agreement in that case, he agreed to pay over $2,000 in restitution to the person whose van was damaged by Reed’s vehicle during the chase.
Neither motion says anything about the restitution.
He was set to be sentenced March 31 for both cases.
Maro said her client has never been convicted because he has not been sentenced.
“In this case, there has been no conviction because Mr. Reed died before his sentencing hearing,” Maro wrote. “There is no lawful authority to support forfeiture of the $300.”
Trapp quoted other case law that he said states that forfeiture of property takes place when a defendant enters into a plea agreement, and not under any other provisions addressing forfeiture.
Trapp wrote that Reed entered into a plea agreement knowing that he was going to forfeit the $300, and even though he had not been sentenced that does not negate the responsibilities he had under the plea agreement.
“The untimely passing of the defendant precludes his presence at a sentencing hearing, but it does not erase his bargain with regard to those items that still exist,” Trapp wrote.
Judge Donofrio is expected to make a ruling shortly.