The Indiana Court of Appeals cut a Gary man’s sentence down to 110 years Tuesday in a 13-year-old’s gang-linked slaying, but acknowledged he could still petition to get out of prison after 20 years.
Kriston Barbee, Jr., now 20, got 125 years in August 2024 for the Feb. 13, 2023 death of Orie Dodson after the boy disrespected a dead gang leader over social media.
Investigators allege that Elijah Porter, Dahvee Brunson and Barbee shot Dodson dead in front of Power & Light Church, located at 1351 Lincoln St., in Gary.
Authorities believe on a two-way Instagram Live video, Dodson was disrespecting Julius “Chop” James IV, 24. James was a “revered” and “untouchable” figure in the 49th Avenue Boys gang, according to court records. James was gunned down in Gary on Feb. 11, 2019.
Barbee was 17 when Dodson was killed. An Indiana law passed in recent years allows juveniles convicted in murder cases to petition for a sentence modification after two decades with good behavior.
In a 2-1 decision, Appeals Judge Leanna Weissmann wrote that the evidence against Barbee was “overwhelming.”
Barbee challenged that prosecutors used a screenshot from a Gary Crimes Facebook page where an Instagram Live video had been uploaded, license plate reader photographs showed the borrowed silver GMC Arcadia and Gary Police Det. Justin Clark’s testified Dodson was “ambushed by more than one person” and likely was running away when he was shot.
Weissmann wrote any legal error including it for jurors was “harmless” — meaning he would have still been convicted.
However, she concluded Barbee’s sentence was too high for a juvenile — 62.5 years for murder and 62.5 years for a gang enhancement. She cut the term on both counts to 55 years, reducing his prison term by 15 years.
In a partial dissent, Appeals Judge Melissa May wrote she disagreed with cutting down Barbee’s sentence, partly since police found 38 bullet casings from three guns. Although Barbee was still a juvenile, he had already been convicted in juvenile court eight times before the shooting and had “multiple opportunities to reform his behavior.”
The decision can be appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court.
Brunson was sentenced to 142 years Friday. His lawyers said in court that he would appeal.
A man with the same name, age and date of death as James was listed in a 2019 Post-Tribune story as the great-grandson of the Rev. Julius James, a Morehouse College classmate and civil rights contemporary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He died in 1994, the year James IV was born.
Prison records show Barbee’s relative, Kriston Barbee, Sr., 39, is also imprisoned in an unrelated drug dealing case. His earliest release date is in 2033.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.