With a trial date six weeks away, a woman charged with murder in a double homicide has rejected a plea offer that could have resulted in a sentence served on probation.
“I’m going to go to trial,” Michelle Hughes said after Lake Superior Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell asked Hughes if she’d had a chance to discuss the plea offer with her attorney, Joseph Curosh III.
Hughes, scheduled for trial Oct. 23, has pleaded not guilty in the 2015 killings of Aareon Lackey, 18, and his brother Antonio Lackey, 16, in Hobart.
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Robert Persin, a trial supervisor for the prosecutor’s office, said the plea agreement called for Hughes to plead guilty to two counts of kidnapping, which is punishable by three to 16 years. Hughes’ plea agreement outlined a sentence range of five to 16 years. Persin said the offense could have been suspended, which means Hughes could be sentenced to probation, Lake County Community Corrections or prison time. Each of the murder and felony murder counts are punishable by 45 to 65 years.
Two years ago, Hughes, 28, and six others were charged with murder, murder in perpetration of kidnapping and kidnapping in the execution-style killings of the Lackey brothers, who were shot once in the head.
Hughes, her boyfriend, Aarion Greenwood, 19, and David Johnson III, 64, have pleaded not guilty.
Persin said the deadline for Hughes to accept the plea agreement was Friday. “We want this (case) resolved,” Persin said.
The judge set a final pretrial conference for Oct. 5.
Two of Hughes’ co-defendants, Jeri Woods, 35, and her husband, David Johnson IV, 39, were convicted of all charges. Woods is serving a 120-year sentence. Johnson, who also was convicted of murder in the April 28, 2015, killing of Alfred Wiley, 46, has a sentencing hearing scheduled for Sept. 19.
Two other co-defendants, David Johnson V, 21, and Kiontay Cason, 23, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of kidnapping and have agreed to testify against the others charged in the case. Johnson V faces three to 16 years, and Cason faces four to 16 years, according to their plea agreements.
Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.