After a plea, Kenneth Burns got five years in prison Thursday in the June 8, 2022 shooting death of Andre White.
Burns, now 52, admitted on June 3 to reckless homicide. His murder trial ended with a hung jury in March. White’s partly burned body was found in a grassy lot. He faced 1-6 years.
Andre’s mother wrote a letter to the court, saying she was “broken” and the “ground underneath me crumbled” when he died. White, 39, was her “beacon of light” and she didn’t want him to be “just another statistic.”
Defense lawyer Scott King said the crime was fueled by alcohol and his client didn’t remember it. The plea was an “acknowledgment” of the evidence that Burns didn’t dispute.
He asked for two years in prison, with a chunk for community corrections and probation. Although parts of his past were “not pretty,” Burns accepted responsibility and was “capable of moving forward with his life” without being “warehoused” in prison.
Deputy Prosecutor Jacquelyn Altpeter asked for six years in prison. It was a violent crime where Burns shot White in a house, then “discarded” his body. White’s blood was in his vehicle. Afterward, Burns lived in an abandoned home to hide from the cops, she said.
They were friends and it was a violation of trust, Altpeter said.
Burns apologized. Before sentencing, he asked a judge to see him for who he was.
Judge Salvador Vasquez said the evidence showed “something went wrong” after a night of drinking. He couldn’t ignore Burns’ actions as White’s mother had to view a “burnt body.”
“How horrible is that,” he said.
He did balance it had been about a decade since Burns’ last conviction for residential entry.
Witness Vernon Reeves, who was renting a room, testified he was upstairs with his girlfriend at Burns’ home on the 2600 block of W. 17th Avenue when she heard “fireworks.” When Burns walked up, knocked on his door and then the men went back downstairs, White appeared to be slumped over, shot dead.
Gary Police found White facedown shot in the face and neck on the 4800 block off W. 21st Avenue.