Evansville teen receives 45-year sentence after 2021 homicide
EVANSVILLE — A Vanderburgh County judge sentenced a second Evansville teenager to serve decades in prison in connection with the 2021 murder of Jonathan Stitts.
Prosecutors accused 16-year-old Arkee Tyshown Coleman of participating in the killing of Stitts, 37, who was shot and killed at an Evansville apartment complex Oct. 1, 2021.
Coleman pleaded guilty to one count of murder, a Level 1 felony, in November. Vanderburgh County Circuit Court Judge Kelli Fink sentenced Coleman to serve 45 years in state prison Thursday morning.
At the time of the shooting, Coleman was just 15 years old, according to the Evansville Police Department detectives, who said Coleman was observed fleeing Stitts' apartment alongside 18-year-old Samajui Barnes.
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A jury found Barnes guilty of murdering Stitts and using a firearm in the commission of a felony in August. He was 17-years-old at the time of the shooting, police said. In September, Vanderburgh County Circuit Court Judge David Kiely sentenced Barnes to serve 55 years in prison for felony murder and 10 years for the firearms charge.
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Prosecutors had charged Coleman with a firearms offense, too, but according to court records that count was dismissed in exchange for Coleman's guilty plea.
According to Coleman's sentencing order, he will receive about one year of credit for time served. If he serves the entirety of his sentence, Coleman will be at least 60-years-old when he is released from prison.
Houston Harwood can be contacted at walter.harwood@courierpress.com with story ideas and questions. Twitter: @houston_whh
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville teen receives 45-year sentence after 2021 homicide
