A Youngstown man originally charged with aggravated murder in the June 2024 shooting death of Angel Sostre pleaded guilty to reduced charges on Thursday, the day his trial was set to begin.
Samuel Perez, 24, pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies, according to WKBN. Judge John Durkin sentenced him to 25 to 30 and a half years in prison, adopting the sentence the attorneys had jointly recommended. He received 822 days of credit for the time he spent in the county jail while the case was pending.
The plea is a significant step down from the original indictment. A grand jury had charged Perez with two counts of aggravated murder, one count of murder and one count of aggravated robbery, all carrying firearm specifications, plus a cocaine possession count, WFMJ reported at the time.
What the sentence means
The split sentence reflects Ohio’s Reagan Tokes Law, which returned indefinite sentencing for many serious felonies. Under the law, the judge imposes both a minimum and a maximum term. Release is presumed when the minimum term ends, but the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction can, under certain circumstances, rebut that presumption and hold an inmate up to the maximum, according to the Ohio Supreme Court’s sentencing guide. With his jail credit, Perez’s minimum term has a little under 23 years left to run.
An overnight shooting and an arrest weeks later
Sostre was shot around 2:30 a.m. on June 18, 2024, but his body wasn’t found until about 5:30 a.m., behind a row of apartments in the 600 block of McBride Street, according to WFMJ.
Perez was taken into custody the following month during an unrelated call. Youngstown police arrested him on Berkeley Avenue while looking into an argument between Perez and his girlfriend, The Vindicator reported. Officers knew he was a suspect in a recent homicide, and the detective on the Sostre case asked to speak with him. Officers searching him found a bag of white powder in his pocket, leading to a felony cocaine charge, and murder charges followed an interrogation and a review of the evidence.
That interrogation became central to the case. At his first court appearance, an assistant city prosecutor sought a $1 million bond, telling the court Perez had admitted to shooting Sostre. Perez’s lawyers later asked Judge Durkin to suppress the arrest and interrogation, but the judge overruled that motion in November. The defense had also notified the court it intended to argue self-defense at trial.
The Sostre case wasn’t Perez’s only one. In February 2025, a Trumbull County judge sentenced him to 30 months in prison for fleeing police, receiving stolen property and resisting arrest, stemming from a December 2023 high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle in Liberty, The Vindicator reported. He was also ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution to the vehicle’s owner.
A hard choice for the family
Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Yozwiak told the judge that his office and Sostre’s family had struggled greatly with accepting the plea, but agreed to it because it spared everyone a trial and ended the case.
Perez turned to Sostre’s family in court, apologized and asked for their forgiveness, saying he prayed they would one day find it in their hearts to forgive him.
“Sweet, humble, respectful”
Sostre’s mother, Elizabeth Valentin, wept as she held up a photo of her son for the judge, then turned to show it to everyone in the courtroom. She described him as sweet, humble, respectful and honest, and so gentle that he believed bugs had the same rights as people. His sister, Joelly Fisher, said she met her brother at Youngstown State University at 3 p.m. every day, and told the court Perez had changed the lives of everyone who loved him.
