Toledoan pleads no contest to murder

5/29/2014

A Toledo man pleaded no contest to murder today for inadvertently killing his girlfriend while firing a gun at some other people outside his mother’s home.

Dimitrias Graves, 27, of 658 Spring St., faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 15 years when he is sentenced June 17 by Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Stacy Cook.

Andy Lastra, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, told the court Graves fired seven shots in the direction of three women who he wanted to leave his mother’s home on Spring Street Oct. 23. One bullet pierced the lungs of Mariah Wells, 22, of Newark, Ohio, who was in the line of fire.

“It’s sad – just incredibly sad – that Mariah Wells, who I believe [Graves] never saw in his line of fire, was shot and died instantly,” Mr. Lastra said after the hearing.

As part of a plea agreement with Graves, prosecutors said they would ask the court to dismiss three counts of felonious assault, one count of improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation, and five firearms specifications. Two counts of endangering children from a separate case also are to be dismissed at sentencing.