Kristine Guerra

kristine.guerra@indystar.com

Levi Sparks, Blake Layman and Anthony Sharp, three of four young men who gained national notoriety for receiving a murder conviction without actually killing anyone, could be out of prison before the end of the year, according to a report by The Associated Press.

Elkhart Circuit Judge Terry Shewmaker sentenced Sparks to nine years in prison and Layman and Sharp to 10 years in prison for breaking into a home in Elkhart in October 2012, the AP reports. The three appeared in court for a sentencing hearing Thursday, a few months after the Indiana Supreme Court threw out their murder convictions.

The new sentences for the young men connected to the Elkhart Four, as they have come to be known, is likely the end of a saga that brought attention to a controversial and highly criticized but widely used law.

The young men had originally been implicated in the death of an accomplice who was shot and killed by a homeowner after they broke into his home. A story published by IndyStar last year looked at the state's felony murder statute, which allows prosecutors to charge someone with murder even in accidental or unintended deaths.

How 4 teens became murderers without killing anyone

Under Indiana law, a person can be charged with murder if someone is killed while he or she is committing a violent crime.

The state's highest court ruled in September that burglary is the only crime the three are guilty of, sending the cases back to Shewmaker, who sentenced Sparks to 50 years in prison and Sharp and Layman to 55 years after a jury trial in 2013.

The men's attorneys said the three could be free before the end of the year because of time they already served and credit for good behavior, the AP reports.The three have been incarcerated since October 2012.

The three, along with a fourth defendant, Jose Quiroz, were charged with felony murder after the homeowner, Rodney Scott, shot and killed Danzele Johnson while the young men were burglarizing his home in Elkhart.

Quiroz pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

According to two separate Supreme Court rulings in September, the three did not intend to confront the homeowner and their actions did not cause Johnson's death.

Media outlets in the United States and beyond published stories about the original murder sentences for four young men who were teenagers when they broke into what they thought was an empty home to steal some money.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Call Star reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter: @kristine_guerra.

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