WARREN — A 46-year-old Warren man convicted of fatally shooting another man at point-blank range was sentenced Tuesday to 41.5 years to life in prison.

David Hollie was sentenced in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on charges of murder and having weapons under disability, both with firearm specifications, as well as tampering with evidence, failure to comply with the order of a police order and receiving stolen property. The victim was 34-year-old Choice D. Washington, and the shooting took place Aug. 3 in the 300 block of Scott Street.

Judge Sarah Thomas Kovoor handed down the sentence Tuesday after a jury found Hollie guilty last week.

Washington’s daughter, Alexis, whose letter was read by victim advocate Jenna Maze, described her father as “my whole world” who raised her alone.

“He fought for me every single day,” she wrote. “What hurts the most is knowing that my dad will never get to see me grow up. He won’t be there to see me graduate high school or college. He won’t be there to walk me down the aisle when I get married or to meet his future grandchildren.”

“It’s not fair that the man who did this still gets to wake up every day and have a life while my dad never will,” Alexis added, urging the maximum penalty. “Nothing will ever bring him back, but giving him the maximum sentence … will at least give me some sense that justice was done for the man who gave me everything he had.”

Brooke Clark, Washington’s best friend of nine years and a mother who relied on him for everything from holidays to her son’s 6-month birthday party, talked about the grief in her courtroom statement.

“Choice (Washington) had the biggest heart. He loved bringing people together … He had this way of lighting up every room he walked into. Everyone loved him because he made everyone feel loved.

“There’s a space in my life that can’t be filled,” Clark said. “I’ve lost the person I turn to for advice, for laughter, for comfort. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about him or wish I could hear his voice again.”

Kovoor addressed Alexis directly, revealing she had lost her own father to a heart attack at age 10.

“I find it unfathomably traumatic and a tragedy for a 16-year-old to lose her father just because somebody chose to take a gun, a loaded gun, to his head,” the judge said. “I hope that you can follow your dad’s legacy, because it’s clear to me that he gave a lot of joy and friendship and life to all of you who are here, and I’m sure many more in the community.”

Hollie, who has a prior conviction for involuntary manslaughter in a 2005 Trumbull County case that also involved aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, spoke briefly before sentencing.

Represented by attorney Aaron Meikle, Hollie told the court he had never seen video evidence showing him shooting Washington until it was played at trial.

“If I would have been able to see that video before I went through with this trial, I would have taken the deal that the prosecution offered me,” Hollie said. “I would have never proceeded with a trial.”

Hollie said he intends to appeal the sentence.

Prior to the sentencing hearing, Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker, who handled both the 2005 case and the current one, called Detective Nicole Smith to confirm Hollie’s prior convictions for the repeat violent offender finding.