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A convicted murderer sentenced as a teen to more than 200 years will have his sentence reduced to 135 years, although one Court of Appeals of Indiana judge would uphold the 220-year term.
Judge Nancy Vaidik wrote the opinion Tuesday in Desmond Banks v. State of Indiana, 23A-CR-896.
The case began in February 2020, when Jalen Roberts and Marcel Wills were living at Carriage House East Apartments at 42nd Street and Mitthoeffer Road on the east side of Indianapolis.
Braxton Ford and Kimari Hunt, who was Wills’ girlfriend, were hanging out with Roberts and Wills at the apartment on the night of Feb. 5.
Also that night, Lasean Watkins called his friend Rodreice Anderson to ask for a ride. When Anderson arrived at Watkins’ house, brothers Cameron and Desmond Banks were with Lasean.
The three got into Anderson’s gold Oldsmobile, and Watkins told Anderson to drive them to Roberts and Wills’ apartment so they could buy marijuana.
Meanwhile, Anton Wilson and his brother, Mikalus Hervey, arrived at the apartment around 9:30 p.m. Anton went inside while Hervey stayed in the car.
Anderson, Watkins, Cameron and Desmond arrived a short time later. Anderson stayed in his car while the other three went inside.
Wilson didn’t know the trio but later identified them in a photo lineup.
Wilson noticed that Watkins was acting “jittery” and pacing around. Wills asked Watkins why he was acting that way, but he didn’t respond.
Wills also asked Watkins if he wanted him to buy back the gun he had sold him, and he responded that it would cost more because he had modified it.
The situation made Wilson feel “uncomfortable,” so he told Wills that he was leaving and would see him later.
Wilson got to his car, where he saw Watkins leave the apartment and walk over to Anderson and ask if he had change for $20. Anderson said no, and Watkins informed him there were four people inside he was about to rob. Anderson stayed in his car.
Wilson’s car pulled away as Watkins reentered the apartment. Soon after, Anderson heard gunshots.
About five minutes later, Cameron got in the car, shortly followed by Desmond and Watkins. Each carried a gun and a duffel bag.
Anderson drove them to Cameron and Desmond’s house, and Cameron gave Anderson a jar of marijuana.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to the apartment and found the bodies of Roberts, Wills, Ford and Hunt inside. Roberts had been shot 29 times, Wills and Ford were shot seven times and Hunt was shot five times.
The state later charged Watkins, Cameron and Desmond each with four counts of murder, four counts of felony murder and four counts of Level 3 felony robbery. The state also charged Anderson with four counts of felony murder and four counts of Level 2 felony robbery.
Anderson and the state entered into a plea agreement for four counts of Level 2 felony robbery, and the state dismissed the four counts of felony murder. He agreed to testify against Watkins, Cameron and Desmond and was sentenced to 35 years, with five years suspended to probation.
A five-day jury trial was held in February and March 2023, at which Watkins, Cameron and Desmond were tried together. Wilson and Anderson testified.
At the end of the second day of trial, the Marion Superior Court was giving the jurors instructions for the night when it appeared that a spectator in the gallery started talking to the defendants or the attorneys. Desmond and Cameron turned around, and a Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy walked toward the gallery and directed the spectator to exit the courtroom.
After the trial court said, “All rise,” and as the jurors started filing out of the courtroom, three members of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Critical Emergency Response Team, who had been stationed in the courtroom during the trial, approached Cameron and Desmond and stood behind them. The CERT members, who were wearing special uniforms that resembled SWAT uniforms, told Desmond and Cameron to face forward.
Desmond’s attorney moved for a mistrial, arguing that because the CERT members stood behind Cameron and Desmond while the jury was still in the room, it gave the impression they were in custody and essentially supervised by the sheriff’s office, and that they were dangerous.
After reviewing a video of the incident and speaking at length with the parties, the court denied the motion for mistrial.
After the trial, the jury found Watkins, Cameron and Desmond guilty as charged.
At Desmond’s sentencing, the trial court acknowledged that he was 16 years old at the time of the shooting, but also said it was “the most horrific” murder trial because it involved the “slaughter” and “execution” of the victims. The court didn’t find any mitigators and sentenced Desmond to a total of 220 years.
The court acknowledged that it was a “de facto life sentence” but found that it was warranted because this “was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
Desmond appealed, first arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial.
Rejecting that argument, Vaidik wrote, “The court, who was present during this incident and reviewed the video, found that the CERT members approached and stood behind Desmond and Cameron as the jurors exited the courtroom but that Desmond and Cameron were not removed from the courtroom until after the last juror had exited. Given our great deference to trial courts in ruling on requests for mistrial … we cannot say the trial court abused its discretion here.”
Next, the court addressed Desmond’s argument that there was insufficient evidence to support four separate convictions for Level 2 felony robbery because he did not take property from each victim.
The state conceded that point, so the appellate court reversed three of Desmond’s robbery convictions.
Desmond also argued that his convictions for murder and Level 2 felony robbery of Wills constitute double jeopardy under Wadle v. State, 151 N.E.3d 227 (Ind. 2020), because the robbery was enhanced to a Level 2 felony “due to the same serious bodily injury that formed the basis” of the murder.
The appellate court agreed, remanding for the trial court to enter a conviction for Level 5 felony robbery instead.
Lastly, Desmond argued his 220-year sentence was inappropriate and requested that the court to reduce it.
The COA found that given Desmond’s age, a reduction was warranted, but not a substantial one.
The court reduced his sentence to 135 years.
“We recognize this is still a de facto life sentence, since Desmond would have to serve over 100 years even with credit for good behavior,” Vaidik wrote. “But reducing Desmond’s sentence to 135 years now makes it more likely that, with good behavior, a trial court would grant a modification under Section 35-38-1-17(n) and reduce his sentence to a point that would allow for some life outside of prison.”
Judge Elaine Brown concurred while Judge Cale Bradford concurred in part and dissented in part with a separate opinion.
Bradford disagreed with the majority that Desmond’s sentence is inappropriate.
“(Desmond) Banks is amongst the worst of the worst. Banks was an active participant in the ruthless, execution-style killing of four human beings,” Bradford wrote.
Also, Bradford noted Desmond’s juvenile adjudication for improperly handling a firearm.
“Clearly, court intervention following Banks’s juvenile adjudication did not dissuade him from using a firearm in an illegal manner in the future,” he wrote.
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