Tovontay Haygood was sentenced to 30 years after manslaughter pleas in two Rochester killings.

A prison term after guilty pleas is the judgment on the counts that were admitted. It is not a trial verdict on the murder charges that were filed first. On Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, Justice Thomas Moran sentenced Tovontay Haygood to 30 years, plus five years of post-release supervision, for two Rochester killings nearly two years apart. WROC reported the pleas were to first-degree manslaughter. Those pleas are the convictions the sentence sits on.

WROC reported Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, that Tovontay Haygood, 33, was sentenced after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree manslaughter, according to the Monroe County District Attorney's Office. New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Moran imposed 30 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. WHAM reported the same term and identified the judge as Tom Moran. WHEC reported the pleas as two counts of manslaughter and the same 30 years plus five years of supervision. A first-degree manslaughter plea is an admission of that count. It is not a murder conviction after a trial, and the 30 years are the sentence on the pleas.

The first killing was Sept. 19, 2023. WROC, citing the district attorney's office, reported Rochester police found Derrick Ellis, 48, with a gunshot wound near Diringer Place and North Goodman Street, and that he died at Strong Memorial Hospital after he was shot while standing on a porch. WHEC reported police said the shooting grew out of an ongoing dispute. Nearly two years later, Wargo was killed. WROC reported officers found Karen Wargo, 46, dead on July 9, 2025, on a sidewalk along Pleasant Street near North Clinton Avenue, and that the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office determined she died from blunt force trauma to the head and asphyxiation. WHEC dated that discovery July 10 and reported that surveillance video showed her being assaulted and kicked. WHAM reported Haygood was not arrested until July 16, 2025, when he was charged with murder in Wargo's death, and that he was later charged with murder in Ellis's death while that case was pending. Those charging dates are the path into court. Monday's judgment is the manslaughter pleas and the 30 years.

WROC reported that investigators tied Haygood to Wargo's death with surveillance video and other evidence, and that the Ellis investigation continued while he was in custody and ended in an indictment. WHEC reported police said that in 2024 he was convicted of attempted arson and endangering the welfare of a child. WHAM reported that case is still awaiting sentence in Monroe County Mental Health Court, and that he has other prior felony and misdemeanor convictions. A prior conviction is its own judgment. It is not a finding on Ellis or Wargo, and a mental-health-court sentence that has not been imposed is not Monday's term. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.