Repeat Mt. Washington felon gets 68 months

A Mount Washington felon whose criminal history includes killing a man and stabbing two others was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in federal prison for possession of a gun that a 3-year-old girl used to shoot herself.

U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak imposed a term of 68 months on Paul Parrish.

The judge granted a government request for an upward variance from sentencing guidelines in part because of Parrish’s life of crime and his finding that Parrish had been caught with another gun just 2½ months after the death of 3year-old Yasha Ross in 2017.

“When there’s a loaded gun around, bad things can happen,” the judge said. “You’re going to have to decide that you’re not going to do this stuff anymore.”

The judge said he’s not convinced that Parrish, 43, is ready to make that decision, so until he does, he’ll be removed from society.

Parrish had previously pleaded guilty to felon in possession.

He has numerous prior felonies in state court, including a manslaughter conviction, assaults, illegal gun possession and fleeing police.

In the death of the toddler on March 12, 2017, Pittsburgh police said Yasha, the daughter of Parrish’s thengirlfriend, Michelle Gandy, got hold of his 9mm pistol and shot herself in the chest.

Parrish and Gandy were smoking pot in the basement around 1 p.m. that day with another man. They heard a bang, ran upstairs and found Yasha bleeding from the chest. She died at Allegheny General Hospital.

When police arrived, they found Parrish sitting on a couch and watching TV. The gun was lying next to a safe where Parrish said he kept it.

Parrish said his ex-girlfriend had bought the gun. When they broke up, he said, he kept it because she owed him money but kept it in the safe.

In court Tuesday, he described Yasha as a “very special 3-year-old girl” and said he was “haunted” by her death.

“I still don’t understand how this happened,” he said. “I had no control over Yasha getting hold of that gun.”

But he also acknowledged that he knew he was a felon and wasn’t allowed to have guns. In his violent world, he told the judge, having a gun was “almost mandatory.” He also characterized his prior offenses, including shooting a man in 1996 and a double stabbing in which his knife blade snapped off in a victim’s back, as self-defense scenarios.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Maloney said that Parrish is a violent repeat offender who needs to be taken off the streets.

“If he did not have that gun on that day, that little girl would not have died,” he said.

On May 26, 2017, just a few months after Yasha’s death, city police arrested Parrish on drug charges after searching his house on Southern Avenue and finding another gun, crack, heroin and marijuana, a bulletproof vest, drug packaging material and $22,000 in cash. The gun, loaded and cocked, was tucked under a couch pillow.

Parrish’s lawyer, Meagan Temple, said the judge shouldn’t consider that case because Parrish hasn’t been charged. Parrish also indicated that the gun belonged to another man who was living in the house.

But Mr. Maloney said the firearm was clearly under Parrish’s control. He said the discovery of a second loaded gun, a short time after the shooting of a child and in the same house, is relevant conduct for the judge to consider.

Judge Hornak agreed. In addition to the prison term, the judge imposed a probationary term of three years.

As part of that order, the U.S. probation office will be authorized to conduct searches of Parrish’s residence for weapons or other indications of probation violations.