TROY – Two men convicted in a thwarted Union Twp., Miami County, home invasion in which one man was shot were sentenced Monday, Aug. 7, to prison terms in county Common Pleas Court.
Kristian Martinez, 23, of Phillipsburg, who did not go into the house but drove the get-away car, was sentenced to four years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary.
RELATED: 2nd of 5 convicted in Miami County home invasion sentenced
James Benton, 24, whose address was listed as at large, was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary and a firearms specification.
They were among five men indicted in the September late night invasion of a home on North Montgomery County Line Road. Sheriff’s investigators said shots were fired by both the intruders and the homeowner.
Keason Twitty, 25, of Dayton was injured in the incident and is confined to a wheelchair. He and another defendant, Corey Dixon, 19, of Englewood, were sentenced July 31 to seven years in prison. The fifth man, Eric Santos, 22, of Trotwood will be sentenced later this month. Twitty, Dixon and Santos pleaded to the same charges as Benton.
Martinez told Judge Jeannine Pratt that he was “hanging around with the wrong people” and wanted to apologize to the victim, the court and the community.
Pratt, as she had said to other defendants during sentencing, told Martinez they were lucky no one was killed in the incident.
“If you think your culpability is less than any of the others, you are kidding yourself,” she said.
Benton said the burglary happened during “a bad time in my life … It never should have happened.”
Pratt said Benton’s juvenile record was “atrocious,” adding that he, like the other defendants, were fortunate to have lawyers who worked with prosecutors on plea deals and recommended sentences. “This could have been a lot worse for you,” Pratt said.
Sheriff’s detectives described the invasion as narcotics related. The homeowner has not been charged.
