A man was sentenced to 60 years Wednesday — “over $140 and some weed,” defense lawyer Lonnie Randolph II said.
Rahmere Dunn, 25, of Whiting and formerly Hammond, was convicted on May 3 of murder and a gun enhancement for the Nov. 12, 2021, death of Jediah Perry, 21, of Gary. He got 55 years for murder and five years on the enhancement.
Dunn said he would appeal.
Court documents show Perry messaged Dunn that day to buy marijuana. They eventually met in front of Kelly’s Soul Kitchen, 5025 W 5th Ave., in Gary.
Dunn parked and later got into Perry’s car.
What happened next was hotly contested by lawyers.
Deputy Prosecutor Jacquelyn Altpeter argued Dunn shot Perry five times, including in the back of the head — too many for a self-defense argument.
Dunn took both guns and later deleted his Facebook messages with Perry.
Randolph said there was evidence Perry set up the drug deal to rob Dunn. At trial, Dunn testified Perry stuck a gun to his head.
On the stand, his mother Carolyn Dunn said Wednesday he had a good job at Lear Corp. A side hustle selling marijuana to loved ones was “not a great decision.”
She said he didn’t know the shooting would happen and wouldn’t have done it unless it was self-defense. In the past, Dunn gave old clothes to Perry. She said Dunn cried to her and was remorseful for what he did.
“My son is not a murderer,” she said.
Randolph called Detective Daryl Gordon to the stand.
During the investigation, Gordon learned Perry contacted another man for help, saying he was going to set up a drug deal with Dunn to rob him.
Perry never picked him up, the man said.
Altpeter replied the man wasn’t there when the killing happened.
The jury was not allowed to see the report because it was hearsay, Randolph said.
LaDonna Reed, Perry’s mother, said she forgave Dunn but asked for a maximum sentence. She did the best she could as a mother. At a certain age, kids do what they want, she said. Like other parents, she was left hoping he would make “correct” decisions.
“No one wins today,” she said.
Dunn and Perry originally met while in the Lake County Jail, Randolph said. Now, Dunn was in jail, maybe for life, “over $140 and some weed.”
“Maybe if it was legal in Indiana, they could go to a dispensary and we wouldn’t be having these issues,” he said.
He repeated it was a case over some money and marijuana.
“Sounds crazy right,” Judge Salvador Vasquez said.
“It’s sad,” Randolph said.
“I agree,” the judge said.
Randolph argued Dunn didn’t get a “fair trial.”
Gordon testified at trial that he watched the restaurant’s security video up to around 9 p.m. when the cops arrived. The jury only saw up to the shooting.
Randolph said he never got the last few hours after the shooting, even though he had subpoenaed Gary Police for it. Gordon, under oath at trial, said he didn’t have it and turned over all evidence to prosecutors, who gave a copy to Randolph.
“I never saw (it) for myself,” Randolph said. “That’s not fair.”
Dunn was playing video games at a friend’s house after work and smoking marijuana when Perry messaged him. The friend’s testimony was barred at trial after he sat through a chunk of Dunn’s testimony. Randolph unsuccessfully argued that the friend could still testify.
Dunn gave the friend two guns after the shooting, Randolph said.
Perry’s associate — who said he was recruited to help rob Dunn — was not called as a prosecution witness. Prosecutors said they weren’t sure if the man was still alive, Randolph said. The lawyer said he subpoenaed the man for two depositions and the trial. He never showed. An arrest warrant wasn’t issued.
Randolph said he requested all information from the detective’s case file. The detective said he didn’t keep the notes after he wrote his report on Perry’s associate.
“That is a problem,” Randolph said, citing a potential discovery violation if it existed and wasn’t turned over to the defense.
He asked for a minimum sentence.
Altpeter argued the five shots were at a “downward” angle, according to the county’s forensic pathologist.
When Dunn testified, “the jury did not believe him,” she said.
In particular, the man who said Perry recruited him was “double hearsay,” she said. He “wasn’t there at the time of the crime.”
She asked for 60 years.
The shooting was “murder,” she said. “That’s what happened that night.”
Dunn said he never expected to sit “up here for murder” and was trying to “keep composure for my family.” He thought Perry was a friend. Perry sent him pictures of his newborn daughter.
Dunn said he was aware that Perry had allegedly robbed people in Gary’s Glen Park section before, but was “not thinking it would happen to me.”
“It was ultimately my decision to defend myself,” he said.
After the shooting, he was caught by a train and saw a cop pass by. He turned around and went back to the crime scene, thinking someone had called the cops on him.
He was going to jail “now or later,” he said. “I can’t even tell you what I thought I was doing.”
No one else was there. He grabbed his bloody wallet and both his gun and Perry’s. That would have been on the footage if it could have been played, he said.
“I did not intend for my day to go like that. Who does?”
“I’m willing to accept whatever you put on my plate,” Dunn told Vasquez.
Vasquez said he felt Dunn got a fair trial, regardless of what Randolph argued.
The jury was given instructions that allowed it to consider if it was a self-defense case, the judge said. They came back with murder.
Dunn was clearly “remorseful.”
But he was a “man,” making “grown-up decisions,” Vasquez said, including to carry a gun after he was a felon.
Dunn had a couple of prior felonies for theft cases.
With his supportive mother, schooling and break to get into a trade, Dunn “should have never been here,” the judge said.
Police were called at 8:39 p.m. on Nov. 12, 2021, where officers found Perry shot dead inside his car in front of Kelly’s Soul Food, 5025 W. 5th Ave., charges allege. He died from five gunshots to the head, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Security video appeared to show Perry circling the block, then pulling up next to Dunn’s Chrysler 300 at 4:53 p.m.
The man, later identified as Dunn, wore a reflective vest when he got out of the 300 and jumped inside Perry’s car. He briefly went back into his car before grabbing marijuana from his vehicle. He then went back into Perry’s car before he suddenly got out, hopped back into his car, and sped off on 5th Avenue around 4:57 p.m., the affidavit states.
mcolias@post-trib.com
