A Gary teen was sentenced to 12 years Friday under a plea deal for a deadly drug robbery.
Izaiah Horde, now 18, admitted Jan. 11 to armed robbery, a Level 3 felony, and reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony, in the Sept. 10, 2021 shooting death of Emmanuel Hall, 18.
Judge Salvador Vasquez said it was “very unusual” for a murder case to be pleaded down to a lower level reckless homicide felony. He asked defense attorney James Thiros why he should accept the plea deal.
Thiros said the shooting wasn’t “intentional.” Negotiations were “extensive” and there were evidence issues on both sides.
A main witness wasn’t cooperative, he said.
He asked the judge to accept the plea.
Deputy Prosecutor Jovanni Miramontes echoed Thiros, saying they weren’t “comfortable” going to trial with an uncooperative witness.
Without it, they “didn’t know exactly what happened”, he said.
Horde declined to speak in court.
“I won’t belabor this,” Vasquez said, accepting the plea.
Hall and another man, a relative, were going to buy marijuana from Horde, according to court documents.
They picked him up on the 1100 block of Burr Street in Gary. Hall was riding in the front seat, while Horde jumped in the back.
While driving near the 4900 block of Olcott Avenue in East Chicago, the man heard a shot, then felt a gun pressed to the back of his head, charges state.
Horde started asking where the marijuana and money were and grabbed the backpack with $460 and 3.5 grams of marijuana, charges said.
“Damn, I didn’t even mean to kill folks,” Horde said, according to the affidavit.
The man saw Hall shot and asked Horde what he just did.
“Don’t panic, just keep driving,” Horde replied.
He dropped Horde off with the backpack in an alley near the 4200 block of Indianapolis Boulevard and Magoun Avenue, then took Hall to St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago.
The man ran into the emergency room, telling the staff someone had been shot in his car.
He then “panicked” and fled because he also had outstanding warrants, he later told police. He hid in bushes, discarded a bloody sweatshirt, then called an Uber.
Horde was originally charged with murder, robbery resulting in serious bodily injury and armed robbery.
mcolias@post-trib.com
