Lake County Law and Order
September 21, 2012 3:46PM
Updated: September 22, 2012 11:52PM
East Chicago
Four years for pair of burglaries
A Chicago man with 12 prior felony convictions was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for two separate burglaries.
Anthony Clyde Smith, 44, told Lake Superior Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell he had turned around his life while incarcerated in Cook County, Ill., Jail when he began counseling through the Gateway Foundation.
Defense attorney Matthew LaTulip noted his client’s significant criminal history that was linked to his long-term substance abuse problems.
Deputy prosecutor Dekeyu Sumner argued for four-year sentences on each of the charges. The plea agreement set a maximum 10-year sentence for the two cases.
Smith admitted he broke into a building in Oct. 5, 2008, at 3825 Main St., East Chicago, and stole a safe box with about $800. He also admitted on Oct. 1, 2008, he burglarized Family Dollar, 4020 Main St., East Chicago, and stole various items.
Smith said his transformation is something he wants to share with others who may be headed down the wrong path. “That’s why this period of incarceration has taught me that crime doesn’t pay,” Smith said.
Boswell said she imposed a mitigated sentence because of the length of time between the commission of the crimes and the charges, which were filed in 2009 and 2010, and because she thinks the steps Smith has made to change his life make him a bigger asset to the community than he would be by incarcerated for a lengthy sentence.
Back to jail for pulling out gun
Lake Superior Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell sentenced an East Chicago man to four years in prison for intimidation and a probation revocation.
Justin Shavon Andrew Donson admitted he pulled out and cocked a handgun and threatened to kill Davien Backus on May 12 as he saw him in his car with his 8-month-old child and the baby’s mother in the 3800 block of Huron Court, East Chicago.
Donson, 19, was on probation for robbery at the time and his probation officer had filed a third amended petition to revoke his probation for his failing to report as required, testing positive for marijuana and failing to pay his probation fees.
Donson said he wanted the $300 he’d posted for bond for failure to appear in the probation revocation to be used to pay for his probation fees. “They never did it,” he said. Boswell said that bond money couldn’t be used for his fees.
Donson pleaded with Boswell to give him another chance, telling her “from the bottom of my heart I will get back to work and enroll in school.”
“From the bottom of my heart, no,” Boswell replied.
Donson had been placed on probation for two years in September 2011 for the robbery case.
