William Lowry, father of the victim, tells Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice that his family is against the involuntary manslaughter charge given to Cole P. Conti for the July 30, 2022, stabbing death of his son, a Marine veteran. Staff photo / Raymond L. Smith

WARREN — The 21-year-old Austintown man who admitted to stabbing a Marine veteran five times during an altercation in a Girard home was sentenced to six to nine years in prison.

Cole P. Conti, 3893 Cannon Road, was sentenced on an amended plea agreement that reduced his initial murder charge to involuntary manslaughter. He apologized to the family of William Lowry, 31, saying he will live with what he has done for the rest of his life.

“No matter what happens to me, I would like to apologize to the family for the loss of their loved one,” Conti said Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. “I know how hard it is to lose a loved one.”

Conti then asked Judge Ronald J. Rice to give him a second chance to be a positive and productive member of society.

The court’s gallery was filled with friends and supporters of both the victim and the defendant.

Prior to Conti’s apology and sentencing, William Lowry, the victim’s father, read a statement that his family is against the reduced charge.

“The defendant was charged by Girard Police Department for murder,” Lowry said. “He was indicted by the Trumbull County grand jury for murder. Me and my family are confident if he went to trial, he would have been convicted of murder.”

The elder Lowry described Conti brutally stabbing his son multiple times.

Calling the defendant a coward, Lowry said Conti took the involuntary manslaughter charge once he realized he did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Lowry described his son as a Marine and a combat veteran.

The grieving father told a story about two Marines separated from their unit who radioed for a gunner.

“When they were told that Lowry was behind them, they looked at one another and knew they would be OK,” he said.

Rice emphasized the court amended the charge to involuntary manslaughter because of the case facts.

“What occurred was a result of a fight,” he said. “It was not a murder. There were aggravating circumstances.”

The involuntary charge is based on what the law will allow based on the evidence gathered, Rice noted.

Defense attorney Ronald D. Yarwood told the court that his client’s actions occurred because he was provoked.

“It fell short of self defense,” he said. “Maybe it was an overreaction. Nevertheless, he was provoked.”

He supplied multiple letters of support for Conti receiving, at least, the lower end of the possible sentence.

Conti could have been sentenced up to 16 1/2 years in prison.

Yarwood argued Conti has been cooperative with police investigators from the beginning, saying he was responsible for the stabbing and providing them with the knife. Information officers gathered during their investigation matched what they were told by Conti, including red markings around his neck and facial injuries indicating some kind of struggle.

The defense attorney suggested that the law would have allowed Rice — instead of sending him to prison — to place him on community control sanctions based on provocation.

“It is unlikely there will be recidivism,” Yarwood said. “He has shown accountability from the very beginning. He has shown genuine remorse.”

Yarwood admitted that the number of stab wounds could be seen as troubling.

He added, however, that his client was reacting to the situation, knowing that Lowry was a combat veteran.

Assistant Prosecutor Charles Morrow objected to the characterization, indicating their investigation indicated that Conti and Lowry did not know each other, and Conti “would not have known Lowry was a combat veteran,” Morrow said.

Lowry’s obituary states he was born and raised in McDonald, and graduated in the Class of 2009. Shortly after, he enlisted in the Marine Corps during wartime and fought honorably in Operation Enduring Freedom as an infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines.