CROWN POINT — A Gary man was sentenced to time served for his role in a 2020 gas station murder.
Terry Horton, 26, spent 496 days in the Lake County Jail after he was arrested in August 2020 in connection with the May 2020 killing of 22-year-old Dorell Townsend. Horton faced up to three years in prison, according to the plea agreement.
Horton appeared for the first half of his sentencing hearing April 3, where his mother, Latasha Horton, testified that he is one of nine children and helps her a "great deal" with household duties, taking his younger siblings to school and caring for his sister, who has a disability.
Latasha Horton said Terry Horton worked prior to his incarceration and would work upon his release.
Horton was with his brother, 26-year-old Aaron Sawyer, May 31, 2020, at a gas station in the 2700 block of West Fifth Avenue in Gary when he bumped into Townsend's girlfriend and got into a discussion. Surveillance footage showed Sawyer pull a gun from his shorts and shoot Townsend, according to court records.
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Horton also faced a murder charge for Townsend's death but pleaded guilty in December 2020 to one count of assisting a criminal. In exchange, he agreed to testify against Sawyer, who was convicted of Townsend's murder last month and sentenced to 67 years in prison Tuesday.
The mother of Horton's four children, Tiara Philoe, said in court April 3 that he is very present in the lives of his children and the lives of three other children he has with another woman.
She said she's had a tough time figuring out how to care for the children on her own, and the kids miss their father and want him to come home.
"It's been the hardest two years since Terry's been gone," she said.
Horton posted a $3,000 cash bond shortly after signing his plea deal, records show. While out on bond, he was charged with a May 2022 shooting that killed a 25-year-old man and wounded the man's 1-year-old son. He was arrested and has been held without bond since.
He was charged with pulling up alongside a Dodge minivan that Nehemiah Martin was riding in on May 7, 2022, with a woman and three young children and firing into the van. Martin was shot to death, according to court records.
Witnesses told police they recognized the gunman, who was driving a white Chevrolet, but could not remember his name, police said.
They were able to find a photo of him on Facebook and detectives recognized the man as Horton, police said.
Horton is scheduled to stand trial in August.