17-year-old sentenced to prison for 2020 fatal shooting in Lorain

ELYRIA — Treshawn Crooks was sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of seven up to a maximum of eight-and-a-half years in prison for fatally shooting 21-year-old Dimehz Phillips in Lorain last year. Crooks, 17, of Lorain, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property in Lorain County Common Pleas Court in February. Charged as an adult though he committed the crimes at age 16, he has spent the last 336 days in the Lorain County Detention Home awaiting trial. One charge of murder was amended to involuntary manslaughter and two other murder charges dismissed as part of a plea agreement. The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office asked Judge Christopher Rothgery for Crooks to be sentenced on the involuntary manslaughter charge, the tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property charges and accompanying firearms specifications. Crooks also was ordered to pay the cost of Phillips' funeral: $4,915 to the victim's mother, Rothgery ordered. The first four years of Crooks' sentence are mandatory years on the firearms specifications, which were filed because Crooks used a gun in the commission of a felony. Crooks "made a mistake initially to save his life," defense attorney Anthony Baker said, appearing via video while his client appeared in person. Crooks was "bullied by a group of guys, former friends" who had "corrupted him with wine, weed, whiskey and women," Baker said. "Small" and "quiet," Crooks got to the point where he "believed he needed to carry a gun," his attorney said. Crooks was carrying a stolen .40-caliber handgun on May 19, 2020, when he got into "a dispute" with "some older men," Baker said. Those men included Phillips, whom Crooks fired shots at about 11 p.m. May 19 on Denver Avenue, south of East 36th Street in Lorain. Witnesses reported gunshots in the area but no suspects were found and police were told Phillips had last been seen running east, away from the gunfire. His body was found in a nearby backyard the following day. Crooks admitted to Lorain police that he had a gun and shot in Phillips' direction. Assistant prosecutor Chris Pierre told the court on Wednesday that Crooks then asked a younger sibling to hide the gun in a basement where it was later found by police. Phillips died because of a "passing petty argument in the streets of Lorain," Pierre said. "Whether or not the defendant was bullied is not the issue," he said. "A young man is dead because the defendant chose to carry a firearm, a stolen firearm." The victim's family "came through for Mr. Crooks" when they approved a plea deal, Baker said. He had requested a six-year prison sentence for his client, but Rothgery said he was "unable to give less than a seven-year sentence under the law." Phillips' mother, Zarquinda Fletcher, told the court that her son "was a very good young man." "He wasn't perfect, but he had a big heart," she said during a victim impact statement, and it was "jealousy and hate" that killed him. Fletcher said there was a point where "both parties could have walked away." And while Crooks' family can visit him in prison, she said her loss is permanent. "It's a shame," she said. "This young man deserves whatever he gets today. I just want justice to be served." Asked if he wanted to say anything before being taken to prison, Crooks told Rothgery: "I dunno what to say." He then waived his right to make a statement and was handcuffed and taken away by a deputy sheriff. Phillips, whose obituary said he was a musician and rap artist, was survived by his mother, his three children, his father, Peter Phillips, a sister and a large extended family. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.