Judge sentences convicted murderer to life in prison without parole

aron Meikle, pending trial in Mahoning County District Court

YOUNGSTOWN — A man convicted of murder last week will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Vashuad May, 22, of Youngstown, learned his fate Monday morning after a jury found him guilty

of aggravated murder and first-degree murder with firearm specifications Thursday in the April 2022 fatal shooting of Rawsheem Aponte, 24, on Mohawk Avenue in Youngstown.

Mahoning County Magistrate Judge R. Scott Krichbaum sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The jury also found him guilty of three counts of attempted murder with firearm specifications, three counts of felonious assault with firearm specifications and one count of possessing weapons while incapacitated.

In addition to killing Aponte, May also shot his fiancée, Rikya Wright, and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter. Both survived.

Before sentencing, Judge R. Scott Krichbaum heard from Wright.

“He was my best friend, my children’s best friend,” she said. “(May) took the best part of my life, the best part of my children’s lives.”

Wright said she and her children are still traumatized, but “I still have to get up every day and be their mother, because I’m the only parent they have.”

Wright said the memory of the murder will never leave her, but she continues to try to move forward.

“This is a chapter of my life that I have to leave behind because it is full of hate,” she said.

At sentencing, the prosecutor stipulated that the felonious assault convictions would be merged with the attempted murder convictions, meaning May was convicted only of the latter. The same was done for the murder charge, merging it with the aggravated murder conviction.

All firearm specifications, eight in total, were combined, adding a mandatory three-year sentence to be served before the remainder of the sentence begins.

For the crimes other than murder, Krichbaum sentenced May to 11 years in prison each, plus an additional 5.5 years required by state law. The total sentence for those counts is 38.5 years plus the firearms specification sentence, to be served before the life sentence begins.

“I’ve been in this position for 34 years and people always ask me, ‘What’s the worst case you’ve seen?’” he said. “I wouldn’t want to try to recount all the horrific examples of man’s inhumanity to man. This is the worst you can imagine.”

Krichbaum expressed disgust that May had “chased” the car and fired multiple shots at it – investigators found more than 60 shell casings at the scene.

“Beyond this murder, crimes against a mother and her two children, these things are completely unforgivable,” he said. “If this is the way you want to do it, this is the price you have to pay.”

May maintained his innocence in a brief statement before Krichbaum convicted him.