Manslaughter Plea Nets Mableton Man 40-Year Sentence

District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced on Tuesday that a Mableton man with a lengthy criminal background had pleaded guilty to the July 2012 killing of his live-in girlfriend.

Thomas Leonardo Schwartz, also known as “Tootsie Roll,” entered his plea Monday morning to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault.

Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary E. Staley sentenced Schwartz to serve 20 years in prison on the manslaughter charge, to be followed by 20 years on the assault charge. He was sentenced as a recidivist on the manslaughter charge, which means he will have to serve every day of the first 20 years.

An additional charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was dismissed as part of the plea deal.

Schwartz, 47, admitted he shot his girlfriend, Janice Oates, 45, in the head on the evening of July 7, 2012, at the Mable Street home they shared in Mableton. He was detained at the scene shortly after the killing. Charges were filed the following day, and he has remained at Cobb Jail without bond since then.