Southern Indiana teen gets 65 years for man's slaying

BEDFORD, Ind. (AP) - A judge sentenced a southern Indiana teenager to 65 years in prison Monday for the fatal beating of a man at his rural home.

Lawrence Superior Court Judge William Sleva sentenced Dillon Hicks of Bedford to 55 years for murder and 10 years for conspiracy to commit burglary, with five years suspended to supervised probation. A robbery charge was dismissed under the plea agreement.

Hicks pleaded guilty last month to the murder and conspiracy to commit burglary charges.

Rodney Allender, 43, was killed in February 2014 at his home in Lawrence County. An autopsy determined he died from blunt force trauma to the head.

"You've ruined a lot of lives here," Sleva told Hicks, who turned 18 on Dec. 13. "I doubt a day goes by that they (Allender's relatives) don't think of what he went through."

Allender's sister, Buffy Jackson, addressed Hicks in court.

"You had choices for your life. We all do. But what you did hurt so many people that can never be fixed," Jackson said.

Two other people have pleaded guilty in the case. Austin Curtis, 19, was sentenced to 55 years in prison in September 2014, with 10 years suspended. Taylor Flynn, 21, was sentenced to 65 years in April, with seven years suspended.