Javyonne Stewart pleads guilty in 2021 Euclid teen murder

Javyonne Stewart accepted a guilty plea Wednesday in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, resolving the criminal case surrounding the 2021 death of Maurco Toler. The 13-year-old Euclid resident was shot in the front yard of a home on Zeman Avenue. Stewart’s admission ends the trial that had started the previous day. He will receive his sentence on Nov. 12.

Stewart pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter. He also admitted to improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation and tampering with evidence. These charges align with the facts presented during the pretrial proceedings. The plea was entered in the Cuyahoga County court system.

Law enforcement captured Stewart on Dec. 22, 2025. Agents from the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force found him at a residence in the 10500 block of Olivet Avenue in Cleveland. This arrest marked the final step in locating all three individuals suspected in the shooting.

Toler died around 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2021. Euclid police reported that he was struck by gunfire coming from a black Ford Escape. Two other suspects, Duane Tra’Ron Jackson and Leroy Billips, were apprehended in early 2022. Jackson was taken into custody at Benedictine High School, while Billips surrendered to authorities in June 2022.

A jury convicted Jackson and Billips in November 2023. They were found guilty of murder, felonious assault, and multiple firearm discharge counts. The court sentenced both men to life in prison. Stewart’s guilty plea concludes the court proceedings for the third defendant in the case.