ELYRIA – With a jury waiting in the wings for his trial to start, Tyrone Young took a plea bargain this morning in the 2006 shooting death of retired steelwork Michael Smith.

Young, 20, pleaded guilty to murder, felonious assault, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence charges in exchange for prosecutors dropping aggravated murder and an additional charge of aggravated robbery.

He was immediately sentenced to 18 years to life in prison by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery.

Smith was shot outside his Lorain home as he was moving his wife’s car from the street to the couple’s driveway. He was stuffed in the trunk of the car and left to die, according to police and prosecutors, who have described the killing as a random robbery.

Young was the last of the three men charged in the case awaiting trial. The shooter, Willie Evans IV, is serving a life without parole prison sentence. The third man, Barry Williams Jr., testified against Evans during his trial last year in exchange for a 13-year prison sentence.

For more on this story, see Tuesday’s edition of The Chronicle.

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