Demetrius Lardydell stood at the podium, his voice cracking with emotion as he began to explain what happened during an altercation in which his brother, James Lardydell III, was killed.
“I’m ashamed. I wasn’t brought up like this,” Lardydell said. “We had an altercation that turned physical and I hit him on the head.”
Seated in the third row of the hushed courtroom, Lardydell’s white-haired father, began repeating, “Lord, have mercy,” and crying while his son spoke. Another man in the audience put his arm around Lardydell’s father and tried to comfort him.
“I didn’t mean for none of this to happen,” Lardydell said, adding that he knows he caused a lot of pain for his family. “I hit him but I didn’t know it was that hard,” he said.
In court last month, Lardydell, 47, admitted that he and his brother got into a dispute that turned physical on May 5, 2016, at the family home in the 5900 block of Harrison Street in Merrillville. As a result of the physical confrontation, James Lardydell, 47, died.
Defense attorney John Cantrell argued for probation, noting that his client had spent 224 days in the Lake County Jail and that several family members and Lardydell’s ex-wife were present in court to support him. Cantrell said the family is a close-knit one. “We have thousands of days where these brothers got along, and here we have one bad day,” Cantrell said.
Cantrell presented testimony from Lardydell’s daughter, Tameara Lardydell, who said: “My dad is a good man. This thing that got brought up, I don’t feel like he did it. I don’t think my dad would do something like this.”
Deputy prosecutor Bernard Johnsen argued for the maximum six-year sentence for reckless homicide, citing juvenile charges that were dismissed, a federal conviction for five counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy 22 years ago, and a conviction for possession of controlled substance within the last 10 years.
Lake Superior Court Judge Samuel Cappas said he would consider the six convictions in federal court as one because they arose from the same case. The judge noted that Lardydell’s convictions were for non-violent offenses and that he had expressed remorse for his actions.
The judge imposed a four-year sentence, with three years served in the Indiana Department of Correction, followed by one year in Lake County Community Corrections.
Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
