WARREN — Savion C. Woodall, 24, of Warren, at times did not look like a guy who was expecting to get 16 years to life in prison as he sat waiting for his plea and sentencing hearing to begin.

He sat by himself quite a while, alternately smiling, looking around blankly and once leaning way back and staring at the ceiling. When his attorney, Rhys Cartwright-Jones, walked up closer to the start of the hearing, a huge smile crossed Woodall’s face.

And during the long series of questions Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean O’Brien asked Woodall to make sure he was entering a knowing and voluntary guilty plea in the Aug. 3, 2025, shooting death of David Lee Owens III, 31, of Warren, and the nonfatal shooting of Torian Phillips outside of the Convenient Food Mart at Elm Road and Larchmont Avenue, he answered directly.

He pleaded guilty not only to murder in Owens’ death and attempted murder for the injury to Phillips, he pleaded guilty to gun specifications, possession of a firearm in a liquor permit premises, tampering with evidence and carrying a concealed weapon.

But the charge that mattered the most was the murder, which carries a prison sentence of 15 years to life, plus one more year for possessing a firearm. He was also sentenced to other prison time for the lesser charges, but the sentences for those will be served at the same time as the murder sentence.

That means his total sentence is 16 years to life, O’Brien said before a fairly large but quiet gallery of people split into two groups, as is usual, in the seating area.

No one representing the victims chose to speak. Cartwright-Jones did not make extended remarks as some do to try to mitigate the defendant’s conduct.

He only said that the shooting, captured on surveillance video, “begins as a fistfight and ends in a shooting. This is not the sort of long, drawn out malicious, calculated murder that would merit a sentence more severe than that is recommended here. I think 16 to life is very serious.”

Woodall thanked O’Brien and his attorneys and then apologized.

Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker explained that the video showed Woodall inside the Convenient Food Mart, which had a liquor permit “holding what was later determined to be a 45-caliber handgun. Eventually he was outside of the store. He punched an individual while they were playing dice.

“A fight immediately ensued. (Woodall) got up and shot and killed David Lee Owens III. He also shot Torian Phillips,” Becker said.

Woodall’s tampering-with-evidence and improper-handling offenses took place Aug. 14, according to Woodall’s indictments. Becker said they related to Woodall being in the front passenger seat of a car when the vehicle was traffic-stopped.

Officers found a bullet where Woodall was seated, and they found a disassembled gun with part of it under the passenger seat and other parts on the glove box and map pocket of the car.

PROSECUTION

Becker said he believed that Owens’ mother agreed with the plea, and she nodded her head in agreement.

After the hearing, Becker said four firearms were used by four people in the incident. Three of the men with firearms were prosecuted federally. Woodall, who was prosecuted in Trumbull County, was the only one whose gunshots hit anyone.

The three other men only fired after Woodall had shot the two victims and was fleeing the scene, Becker said.

In May, Jumal Ellis Rowe, of Warren, was sentenced to 92 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, according to federal prosecutors. Also convicted federally were Sean King, 37, and Rayjon Ray McElroy, 25.

King received a sentence of 86 months in prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition. McElroy was sentenced to 25 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a prohibited person.

WARREN POLICE

Becker gave credit to the Warren Police Department after Woodall’s hearing for not only obtaining the evidence needed to convict the defendants in the Owens murder but also investigating the shooting death of Choice D. Washington, 34, in the 300 block of Scott Street in Warren a short time before the Owens murder.

David Hollie, 46, of Warren, was sentenced to 41.5 years in prison in October after being convicted at trial of murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the Washington murder.

“Literally on Aug. 3, 2025, there were two homicides going on at about the same time here in the city of Warren. I cannot credit the police of the city of Warren enough with their response and handling of two violent crime scenes on the same night and almost on the same hour of happening,” Becker said.

He added that cases like Owens’ murder demonstrate that “Videos are playing a tremendous role in solving these crimes. This convenience store had ample security video both from inside and outside the store. And when you have video like this, like we did in the Ashaud Johnson trial a few weeks ago … these defendants cannot say ‘I was provoked’ or ‘I was acting in self defense’ when the evidence clearly, clearly shows that is not the case.”

He said, “Video is everywhere. I cannot stress this enough to the people in this community. You are going to get caught. There is video everywhere. We’ve gone from DNA and fingerprints and phone records to now we basically have a video of you committing these crimes. And you are going to be convicted and you are going to serve a life sentence. And that is what happened in this case.”