A jury in Buchanan County determined that an 18-year-old from St Joseph must serve decades in prison for a home invasion robbery and homicide in August of 2011, when he was sixteen.
The panel found Elijah Pickett guilty as charged, and recommended 30-years for murder, plus 15-years on each of the other five counts.
Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins called that “completely appropriate.”
“I believe that the jury recognized that these sentences were appropriate because of the heinousness of what happened, and just the random violence that was involved,” Scroggins said
In this jurisdiction, Scroggins says the judges have always followed the jury’s sentencing recommendation. The only detail still left up to Judge Patrick Robb to decide is whether those sentences will be served at the same time of one after the other. Scroggins says both sides will be allowed to argue whether concurrent or consecutive sentencing is appropriate. A pre-sentence report was ordered and a hearing was scheduled March 8 for motions and sentencing.
Scroggins says the fact that Pickett was just 16 at the time of the killing does not outweigh the heinous, random violence involved. He says he’s confident the jury weighed the age along with the facts of the case.
“I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that every one of them was aware of that fact, and thought about that fact, and considered that fact, but in the end, the recommendations they’ve made I think in this case are completely appropriate,” Scroggins said.
Depending on how they’re applied, the sentences recommended by the jury could range from 30-years to 105-years.
Pickett and two other men, Xavier Johnson and Kasey Hall, have been convicted of walking into Ullmer’s home with handguns drawn. They held a half dozen people in the house at bay, forcing Brian Ullmer face down on the floor. Witnesses say Pickett shot him three times in the head and neck. Johnson and Hall have pleaded guilty and are serving 20-year sentences.
Two other men, Camareo Goodwin and Felix Turner, were charged with murder and attempted robbery, for allegedly setting up the home invasion. A jury last month found Goodwin not guilty of the charges. Turner is scheduled for trial later.
Ullmer is survived by a large group of family and close friends, dozens of whom have followed the court proceedings against the various defendants. Nearly thirty were on hand for the sentencing announcement Wednesday Evening.
Ullmer’s fiance Tina Kellogg says their infant daughter recognizes photos and calls them “daddy.”
“She knows he’s gone, she knows he’s in heaven, and she’s holding up pretty well,” Kellogg said. “We all are.”
Kellogg had high praise for all of the law enforcement and other officials involved in the investigation and court proceedings.