Staff photos / Ed Runyan Malik Mills, son of Ayanna Mills and brother of Brandon Bell, spoke Wednesday to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John Durkin at the plea and sentencing hearing of JaBrae Perry, who was sentenced to 23- years to life in prison for killing Mills and Bell at Mills’ home on Salt Springs Road in Youngstown on Aug. 24, 2021. Next to Malik Mills is Paige Dill, victim witness coordinator for the county prosecutor’s office.

YOUNGSTOWN — JaBrae Perry, who was deemed to have a serious mental illness in June in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and no longer eligible for the death penalty, pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated murder and murder in the Aug. 24, 2021, shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her son.

Perry, 47, of Youngstown, was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison for killing his girlfriend, Ayanna Mills, 49, and her son, Brandon Bell, 28, at Mills’ home on Salt Springs Road. Perry was indicted on charges calling for the death penalty, but Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge John Durkin ruled in June to eliminate the death penalty because Perry met the requirements of Ohio’s 2021 Serious Mental Illness statute.

In June, Mahoning County prosecutors stipulated to a 34-page report by Dr. Robert Stinson of Columbus that indicated Perry is diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, one of the conditions that qualifies a person to have a serious mental illness that would disqualify him or her from facing the death penalty.

Prosecutors and the defense jointly recommended the 23-years-to-life sentence, and Durkin adopted the recommendation. Perry got credit for more than three years in the Mahoning County jail awaiting trial.

Authorities said Perry killed Mills early that morning. When she did not show up for work, Bell and Malik Mills went to the home on Salt Springs Road about 10 a.m. to check on her, and Perry killed Bell too. Perry’s indictment contained a “murder to escape” specification related to Bell’s death because that murder was deemed to be committed to escape detection for having killed Mills, prosecutors said.

But before Durkin sentenced Perry, Malik Mills, son of Ayanna Mills and brother of Brandon Bell, said he was not happy with how the case was dragged out and allowing Perry not to qualify for “‘the chair.’ It really upset the family, and I feel like the court is catering more towards him, his mental issues, which there’s nothing wrong with the man, honestly.”

He said, “My mom was the sweetest, sweetest lady, my brother, same. All he was doing was checking on her, that’s it.”

He said it’s upsetting that he has to see Perry’s face seven days before Christmas, but he also wanted to know “Just why, because his statement, that’s not what happened.” He added, “Why would you kill my mom knowing that she was probably the only woman who ever loved you. Why? And her son? I feel like I deserve that. If you could do anything, tell us why.”

When it was Perry’s turn later to speak, he paused for a long time, seemingly wanting to explain, but finally declined.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews told Durkin that Perry was at Ayanna Mills’ home. “There was an argument between the two of them. The defendant had a gun at the time. The evidence would show that (Perry) did kill (Ayanna Mills and Brandon Bell). As far as how this happened, the only witness to this case is the defendant.”

“The statement he gave is that there was an argument between he and Ms. Mills. He was somewhat suicidal. She tried to take the gun from him. They fought over the gun. The gun went off, and it hit Ms. Mills,” Andrews said.

Ayanna Mills had “a great record at work. They called her sons, Malik Mills and Brandon Bell. They arrived at the scene. Brandon Bell went in. He did have a gun on him, and according to the defendant, Mr. Bell was attempting to draw his gun, when (Perry) shot him.”

Andrews said prosecutors “do not agree with these facts, but they are what he said. And some of those facts can’t be overcome.Therefore, that is why this agreement was reached,” he said.

In response to Malik Mills’ remarks, Lou DeFabio, one of Perry’s attorneys, noted that Perry is 47 years old so his first eligibility for parole will be when he is about 67 years old, but that is “not a guarantee. I would assume with two homicide offenses, probably unlikely.”

DeFabio said, “For this family’s sake, I wish I could share with them an answer they are looking for. However, what Mr. Perry told the police is the same thing he told me a week later in the county jail and has said throughout this case.”

DeFabio said Durkin is “well aware of the extensive mental health history. This was not created. We have thousands of pages of records and we had an expert that extensively went through his mental health issues.”

Before announcing the sentence, Durkin said of Ayanna Mills and Brandon Bell, “clearly their loss has impacted countless people.”

He agreed that the case has “certainly dragged on. That’s not fair to anyone. The issue, of course, was the question as to whether the defendant suffered a serious mental illness. And there were literally thousands of pages of medical and psychiatric records that were accumulated over time.

“I don’t know how the defendant presented himself to the victims and their family, but the records were clearly based on a review from Dr. Stinson, who this court has previously found to be an expert, that Mr. Perry suffered from a serious mental illness, specifically schizoaffective disorder that significantly affected his capacity to exercise rational judgement.

As a result, based on actions taken by the Ohio Legislature, this court was legally unable to pursue and the state of Ohio was legally unable to pursue the death penalty in the case,” Durkin said.