State prison officials say they have approved Tyree Feaster’s release from prison after deciding he had fulfilled his sentencing penalties in connection with his vacated guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter in the 2007 shooting death of an 18-year-old Akron woman.Austin Stout, assistant chief legal counsel for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in Columbus, said in a phone interview the required paperwork was completed and he expected Feaster to be freed late Tuesday from Mansfield Correctional Institution.Jana DeLoach, Feaster’s attorney, said he would not be returning immediately to his home in Akron, however, because of threats she said he has received from the victim’s family. She would not disclose where Feaster would be headed after his release.Feaster, who turned 22 last month, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his role in the shooting death of Shawrica Lester outside the Cage teen nightclub in January 2007. The shooting occurred in the club’s parking lot on East Market Street following an exchange of gunfire by rival gang members.Feaster, 17 at the time, later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges in juvenile court. He was one of six co-defendants originally charged in the shooting and gang fight.“I’m really very happy for him and his family, and I am equally upset with the shenanigans of the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office and the way they’re portraying this situation,” DeLoach said after Tuesday’s announcement that Feaster would be released. “They know, and the Akron Police Department knows, that my client didn’t shoot Shawrica Lester. He is not an admitted killer like they’re trying to make it sound.”Retrial is possibleThe decision leading to Feaster’s release originally was set in motion by the Ohio Supreme Court last December after a lengthy series of appeals by both sides.The high court ruling cleared the way for the withdrawal of Feaster’s guilty pleas and sent the case back to Summit County Juvenile Court for a possible retrial.Last week, it appeared Feaster was going to be released Friday, within hours of an announcement by county prosecutors that they were dismissing the charges against him.Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said at the time that none of the original witnesses was willing to testify about what happened on the night Lester was killed.Enough time servedBut in another twist in the protracted legal battle, DeLoach said prosecutors then blocked Feaster’s release by informing prison officials he still had a three-year sentence to serve for contempt of court for refusing to testify against one of his Cage co-defendants late in 2007.Tuesday morning, however, DeLoach objected to the prosecution claim in a formal, two-page letter to the corrections department’s legal division. She wrote that Feaster’s sentence for contempt was to be served consecutively to his 13-year sentence.Because of the high court ruling and the dismissal of the charges by prosecutors, DeLoach argued, “There is now no sentence [that] the three-year sentence can run consecutive to.”Stout, the agency’s assistant chief legal counsel, said all of Feaster’s Summit County sentencing entries were reviewed and a determination was made that, in fact, he already had served enough time to fulfill his three-year term for contempt.A statement Walsh issued Tuesday afternoon said her office no longer would challenge Feaster’s release.“We will not be filing anything with the court regarding Feaster’s contempt charges. We further reviewed all of the prior journal entries,” the statement said, “and have verified that Feaster has no additional time to serve based on his contempt findings in both Juvenile and Common Pleas Court.”Sandra Lester, the victim’s mother, could not be reached for comment about Feaster’s release.Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or at emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.