245-year sentence affirmed in Hovey Street slayings

The gunman who pleaded guilty to four murders in the 3200 block of Hovey Street in Indianapolis was properly given and deserved a 245-year sentence for the crimes, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

The court affirmed Ronald Davis’ sentence, rejecting his arguments that it violated terms of his plea agreement, that the court abused its discretion in sentencing, and that the sentence was inappropriate.

“Davis is a dangerous person from whom society must be protected. In light of Davis’s character and the particularly heinous nature of the crime, we conclude that his 245-year sentence is not inappropriate,” Judge Ezra Friedlander wrote in a unanimous opinion.

Davis was among four people who hatched a plan to break into the house and steal a large amount of marijuana and cash they believed was inside. Finding none, Davis found Gina Hunt and her 23-month-old son, Jordan, and Andrea Yarrell and her five-month-old daughter, Charlii, hiding between a bed and a wall in a back bedroom.

Davis shot and killed them all at close range.

“The trial court properly indicated at the guilty plea hearing that Davis faced a maximum sentence of 280 years in prison. Davis, in fact, received a sentence below the maximum in part because the trial court ordered (conspiracy counts) to be served concurrently with one of the felony-murder counts. The 245-year sentence imposed clearly did not violate the terms of the plea agreement,” Friedlander wrote.

“Davis cannot seriously challenge his sentence on the basis of the nature of the offense, which is among the most heinous in Indiana’s history,” the judge wrote.