A Gary man was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for his role in a double homicide that occurred more than three years ago.
“I want to apologize to the family for my wrongdoing and I hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me,” Anthony Terry Wilson said at his sentencing hearing for assisting a criminal and being an habitual offender.
Family members of Leviticus Dupree, 62, and his wife, Toshiba Dupree, 54, were present in court but didn’t make a statement, deputy prosecutor Maureen Koonce said. Last week, family members spoke at the sentencing for Mark Anthony Williams, 47, who pleaded guilty but mentally ill to two counts of murder in perpetration of robbery and was sentenced to 110 years in prison. Leviticus and Toshiba Dupree were stabbed several times and died at home.
Wilson, 49, admitted on Nov. 1, three years to the day of the double homicide, that he and Williams had walked to the Dupree residence in the 2500 block of Delaware Street in Gary. Williams asked Leviticus Dupree for money, but he refused. Wilson admitted he saw Williams pull out a large kitchen knife and stab Leviticus Dupree and then walk toward the hallway where Toshiba Dupree’s bedroom was. Wilson went outside and waited for Williams, who left the home carrying a shotgun and car keys. The men got into Leviticus Dupree’s Buick, which Wilson drove from the crime scene. Afterward, Wilson took Williams to a different location so he could change out of his blood-stained clothing and dispose of it.
Wilson also was present when Williams tried to sell the stolen shotgun to an individual. Wilson also said he parked the stolen car in a vacant lot and abandoned it.
Koonce told Lake Superior Court Magistrate Natalie Bokota that the plea agreement “reflected Mr. Wilson’s involvement in the case and what we could prove at trial.”
Defense attorney Linda Kollintzas said her client had waited more than three years to apologize to the Dupree family. Kollintzas said alcohol was a factor in the crime and noted that Wilson has completed a substance abuse program and anger management counseling while he’s been in the jail.
Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
