RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - A judge in Pennington County has sentenced two men to each spend 65 years in prison for killing a teenager during a drug robbery last year.
Andre Martinez and Cole Waters, both 21, had earlier pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Emmanuel Hinton.
One man planned an armed robbery and provided the handgun while the other pulled the trigger, but both are equally responsible for killing the Box Elder teen, Judge Robert Gusinsky said Wednesday.
Court testimony said Martinez brought a handgun with him when he went to Waters’ house on Feb. 26, 2019. Martinez told Waters someone was coming over to sell him marijuana and asked Waters for help in robbing him.
Waters agreed and Martinez handed him a gun, according to testimony. Waters said as Hinton and two others pulled up he pointed a gun inside the car, but accidentally pulled the trigger when the vehicle began to drive away. Hinton was shot in the head.
“One set up the deal and brought the gun and the other one wielded it,” said Mark Vargo, Pennington County state’s attorney. “However they “acted in concert and are very much joined and similarly involved in the crime.”
Judge Robert Gusinsky sentenced both men to 75 years, but suspended 10 years, the Rapid City Journal reported.
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