Latoya McClellan, 43, of Lima, pleaded guilty Monday to disposing of the firearm allegedly used to shoot and kill Lima resident Steven Smith last summer. She will be sentenced March 4.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — A Lima woman pleaded guilty Monday in Allen County Common Pleas Court to illegally disposing of a murder weapon allegedly used by her son last summer to kill a local resident.
Latoya McClellan, 43, of Lima, was indicted by a grand jury in September on a single count of tampering with evidence, a felony of the third degree.
McClellan is the mother of Donya Perkins, 18, who was charged by an Allen County grand jury in the July 16, 2023, shooting death of 41-year-old Steven Smith.
She and her son were taken into custody after Smith’s body was discovered in the back yard of a residence in the 1100 block of Reese Avenue in Lima.
According to court documents, McClellan told investigators that Smith had come to her residence on July 16 and “caused a disturbance which led to an altercation” with Perkins.
During that altercation, Perkins reportedly produced a firearm and shot Smith once in the lower abdomen. He fled on foot but collapsed in the back yard of the Reese Avenue residence.
McClellan told detectives she took the firearm to a vacant, wooded lot on 14th Street and disposed of it, leading to the charges filed against her. During Monday’s hearing she pleaded guilty to the charge in exchange for a promise by prosecutors not to make any recommendations at her sentencing hearing on March 4. Judge Jeffrey Reed ordered a pre-sentence report be completed.
McClellan’s son, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was initially charged as a juvenile in the case. His case was bound over to Allen County Common Pleas Court in October for trial as an adult.
In addition to two counts of murder, Perkins was charged with felonious assault, discharge of a firearm on prohibited premises, tampering with evidence and carrying a concealed weapon.
He has a jury trial scheduled for May.
