Court upholds sentence in NW Ind. couple’s murder

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a 120-year prison sentence for a second man convicted of abducting and killing the parents of a former Chicago television talk show host.

The Times of Munster reports that the court issued a 3-0 decision Tuesday saying that the actions of 20-year-old Gregory Brooks Jr. of Hammond were sufficiently heinous to warrant the long prison term.

Brooks and 19-year-old Reo Thompson both pleaded guilty to murder and other charges for the 2009 deaths of 76-year-old Ruby and 78-year-old Milton McClendon, whose bodies were found in a Calumet City, Ill., forest preserve.

The Hammond couple’s son is former Chicago CLTV host Garrard McClendon.

The appeals court in August rejected Thompson’s similar request for time off his 120-year prison term.