Youngstown man given life sentence for alleged murder to get new trial
Lavontae Knight, given a life sentence in September 2022 in the alleged shooting death of Trevice Harris in Youngstown on December 30, 2018, has had his sentence reversed and remanded by a Mahoning County Court on June 6.
The Seventh Appellate District Court in Mahoning County found that the "cumulative nature of errors in the unique case infringed on the Appellant's fundamental right to a fair trial."
Knight's attorney, in September of 2022, claimed the trial court erred by failing to declare a mistrial due to jury misconduct, thus denying Knight a fair trial by an impartial jury.
Knight was convicted in 2022 on 11 charges, including murder, robbery, and kidnapping.
Knight was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 58 years.
In 2022, Knight's attorney, David Betras, had asked for the case to be dismissed after former Mahoning County Assistant prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa failed to disclose DNA evidence for two years.
Judge John Durkin removed Cantalamessa from the case as a result of that issue, and she later resigned from the Mahoning County prosecutor's office.
Knight will be scheduled for a new trial.