Court throws out one charge, 25 years for NW Indiana man

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) - The Indiana Court of Appeals vacated one of the murder convictions of a Northwest Indiana man Friday, cutting 25 years off his sentence, but he still faces 154 years in prison.

The court said the vacated conviction of Connor Kerner violated the prohibition against being tried twice for the same offense, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

The defense for the the 20-year-old Valparaiso man had argued his convictions and sentences on two counts each of murder and attempted robbery amounted to double jeopardy, but the appellate court chose to throw out one of the attempted robbery convictions on a separate issue.

'œAlthough both Thomas (Grill) and Molley (Lanham) suffered serious bodily injury, there was only one act of attempted robbery,'ť the court said.

Kerner was convicted of murdering Grill, of Cedar Lake, and Lanham, of St. John, on Feb. 25, 2019, at his grandparents' home near Hebron.

A jury found Kerner guilty on Oct. 22, 2020, on two counts of murder, two counts of murder in perpetration of a robbery, two counts of attempted robbery and one count of arson. He was given a 179-year sentence.

The court rejected a defense argument that the sentence should be revised primarily because Kerner was just 17 at the time of the crimes.