ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) — The 150-year sentences that two
teenagers received for the fatal shootings of a central Indiana couple
were excessive, the state’s high court said Monday in unanimous opinions
that call for the prison time to be substantially reduced.
The
Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Martez Brown should be sentenced to 80
years for the November 2010 slayings of Stephen Streeter, 25, and Keya
Prince, 24, during a robbery in Prince’s Anderson home. The case will be
returned to the trial court for resentencing.
The court said
Brown should receive two concurrent 60-year terms for murder plus 20
years for the robbery in which several thousand dollars in cash, several
pounds of marijuana, two video game systems, two televisions and a gun
were taken. With good behavior and sentence adjustments for schooling,
Brown could end up serving less than 40 years.
In a separate opinion, the court said Brown’s co-defendant Jacob Fuller’s sentence should be reduced to
85 years.
Madison
Circuit Judge David Happe said he had considered the lack of remorse
and cooperation by Brown, who was 16 at the time of the crimes, in
determining the punishment of two consecutive, 65-year terms for the
murders, plus the robbery sentence.
However, the state Supreme
Court noted Brown had given police a detailed account of the crimes
after he was arrested and that statement provided the only
non-circumstantial evidence at his trial. It further noted he was an
accomplice and likely did not do any of the shooting that killed the
victims.
Justice Robert Rucker wrote both opinions for the high
court. In the one referring to Brown, Rucker wrote that the U.S. Supreme
Court has recognized that "juveniles are less culpable than adults and
therefore are less deserving of the most severe punishments."
In
the opinion on Fuller, who was 15 at the time of the crimes, Rucker
wrote that the teen was found to be one of the shooters and deserved a
longer sentence.
The attorney representing Brown and Fuller didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
Bryan
Corbin, a spokesman for the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, said
prosecutors "respect the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision revising the
sentences which means both defendants still will spend substantial terms
in prison."