Trace Christenson

Battle Creek Enquirer

A Battle Creek man who shot his girlfriend will spend at least 62 years in prison.

Richard Bozell, 28, was sentenced to 60 to 90 years in prison for second-degree murder in the May 23 killing of Tianna Hunt.

He also was sentenced to 60 to 90 years for wounding Hunt’s sister, Jasmine Hunt. Those sentences will be concurrent, but Bozell must spend two additional years for his plea to use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Bozell entered no-contest pleas Dec. 2 in the case on the day jurors were waiting to begin hearing testimony. He was charged with open murder. If convicted of first degree murder, he faced a mandatory sentence of life without parole. He can be considered for parole after serving the minimum 62 years.

Bozell told Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge James Kingsley he had nothing to say. But in a written statement, Bozell said he had an argument with the mother of his child and that Tianna Hunt was trying to hold her sister from attacking him.

He said he fired the gun to scare the women, but that Jasmine pushed her sister.

“I was already in the motion of pulling the trigger for the second time and that is when the bullet hit Tianna as she was stumbling backwards from the physical confrontation between her and Jasmine Hunt. I never meant or tried shooting Tianna or Jasmine,” Bozell wrote. “I just wanted to scare them away.”

Judge Kingsley dismissed Bozell’s suggestion that the shooting was an accident.

“You claim you fired a warning shot but Tianna was pushed into the path of the bullet,” Kingsley said. “Actually you fired several shots, hitting Tianna twice and Jasmine once. Honesty and truthfulness are personal traits with which you are not familiar. Unfortunately anger and cruelty are.”

Battle Creek police and Calhoun County prosecutors alleged that Bozell and Tianna Hunt argued at a party on Kendall Street and that Bozell left and returned with a handgun. The argument continued, and Jasmine Hunt testified at a hearing that Bozell said, “If I don’t get my sister out of the way, she was going to end up in a body bag and die in my arms.”

Jasmine Hunt also was shot but recovered.

Assistant prosecutor Tamara Towns told Kingsley that Bozell “made the choice to leave the party, come back with a weapon to confront her, call her a filthy name and shoot her twice.”

Now, Towns said, Bozell is blaming Jasmine Hunt for the death of her sister.

“The defendant should never see the light of day,” Towns said. “He should spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Maddaloni said his client entered his plea and so is accepting responsibility.

“The first thing he said to me was ‘I told myself not to go back to that party. I just wish I did not go back.’ ’’

“He is living with it. He is not happy about it, and he wishes he could undo it,” Maddaloni said. “He did not want to kill this woman.”

But Jasmine Hunt said she was not only a victim but a witness to the crime and wants justice.

“My family suffers dearly,” she told the judge. “There has been a long drawn out history of him hurting my sister. There is no reason for a person to take another person’s life.

“I don’t want any mercy. I want justice and he deserves not to ever be let out. My sister is gone. He should not be set free.”

Call Trace Christenson at 966-0685. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson.