Six-year prison term for Lorain man in June 2018 Elyria slaying

ELYRIA — A Lorain man pleaded guilty in Lorain County Common Pleas Court on Thursday to felony charges that will put him in prison for six years in the June 2018 shooting death of an Elyria man. Marquess Mason, 28, of West Sixth Street, pleaded guilty before Judge Raymond Ewers to involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, improper discharge of a firearm, tampering with evidence and related firearms specifications. Ewers accepted the plea, found Mason guilty of the charges and sentenced him on the spot. Mason will receive credit for 592 days already served in the Lorain County Jail toward his sentence, or a little more than a year and a half. Mason, who was represented by attorneys Kenneth and Margaret Lieux, had been behind bars on $1 million bond since at least March 2019. That's the same month when he was arrested in the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Antonio Stewart of 12th Street, which happened Jun 12, 2018, at the Midview Crossing Apartments, 1864 Middle Ave. Stewart was found in the parking lot there, bleeding from a head wound, and was taken first to University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, then to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. He died at St. Vincent Medical Center in Cleveland on Sept. 8, 2018. Elyria police said Mason surrendered to police in March 2019. At the time, the Elyria Police Department did not publicly offer a motive for the killing, which was discovered after officers responded to a 911 call for a shooting just after 8 p.m. June 12, 2018."It was a confrontation between two families, and someone ended up fatally wounded," Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said Friday. Will said members of Mason's family had "bad blood" with Stewart for some time, and that after an earlier encounter between a relative of Mason and Stewart, Mason's family members brought Mason along to again confront Stewart. Mason and his family and Stewart then got into an argument at the apartment complex, and shots were fired by both Mason and Stewart. Stewart was struck by at least one bullet, and as he lay bleeding in the parking lot, someone walked up and took a gun that Stewart had dropped and fled — an incident captured on surveillance video, Will said. Police never recovered the first gun, Kenneth Lieux said. He and Will also said that while Stewart was being treated at the hospital, a second gun fell from his body. "Evidentiary issues" that Will declined to elaborate on made the original murder charges difficult to prove. "We sought to resolve the case where we could hold (Mason) accountable, and obtain closure for the victims and the family," he said. Kenneth Lieux said his client was satisfied with the outcome, and that he was only defending his cousin who, he alleged, had been threatened by Stewart prior to the confrontation. "We were prepared for trial, it was a very triable case because the shooting was in self-defense," Lieux said. "All things considered, it was an acceptable resolution." Mason had prior convictions for carrying concealed weapons and improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle from 2014, a conviction for which he was granted two years of probation drug treatment intervention. A subsequent probation violation on another firearms charge in 2016 netted him an additional two years of probation, which he successfully completed, according to court records. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.