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Last updated on Wednesday, August 16, 2017
(PAOLI) - Orange County Circuit Court Special Judge Steven Owens sentenced 39-year-old James Davidson to 40 years in prison after two people were killed in June 2014.
Davidson, of Marengo, pleaded guilty in a negotiated plea deal to a count of robbery with serious bodily injury, a Class A felony. The agreement says two counts of murder will be dismissed and that the prosecution will not pursue a habitual offender charge.
The plea deal limits his sentence to 40 years with the Indiana Department of Correction with no time suspended.
The Shooting
At 1:05 p.m. on June 23, a passer-by alerted police to a man lying near the roadway in front of a home in the 2200 block of Sandy Hook Road.
According to court documents, the day before he died, 56-year-old Nicky Fields expressed concern that Carpenter was out to hurt him. Those documents also indicate that what happened inside the mobile home was a robbery gone wrong.
Fields' body was found inside the home. Police found 25-year-old Corey Michael Harris was outside, along with 29-year-old Daniel Smitson. Both Fields and Harris suffered gunshot wounds to the head and died at the scene. Smitson was shot underneath his neck; the bullet went above his mouth and it came out of his eye.
Smitson was able to tell police that three men in a red and gray Dodge truck came to the home and began shooting with a small-caliber handgun.
Police discovered a truck matching Smitson's description was registered to Carpenter.
Also charged with the crimes were James Davidson of Marengo and Elbert Brooks of New Albany.
Brooks admitted going to Field's home with Carpenter and Davidson to get meth and he stayed in the vehicle when Carpenter went into the home. Davidson stayed outside the residence. Brooks told police he heard yelling and two gunshots from inside the home, and Carpenter and Davidson left the home, carrying a blanket with items inside it.
Brooks told police he saw a man walking toward the roadway, heard a gunshot and saw the man fall.
All three men were arrested within days of the shooting.
Brooks pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Brooks was sentenced to 55 years in prison on one count of murder, 30 years for attempted murder and 15 years for robbery resulting in serious bodily injury. A second murder count was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
The actual shots were fired by 38-year-old John Carpenter of Marengo and he was convicted by a jury in July and was sentenced to 195 years in prison.
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