Teen beaten over stolen ‘blunt’ gets 6 years for Hammond robbery

Elijah Russell took a plea deal for armed robbery in July after admitting he helped trap a child, then held a knife to his throat and took him to the backyard, where he severely beat him.

Court records show the victim admitted to stealing part of a “blunt” from Russell’s band the day before. Two other boys who beat the victim were also charged.

Russell asked Judge Samuel Cappas for leniency on Tuesday and said he was getting a GED and wanted to earn a college basketball scholarship.

How will you do this when you are in high school, the judge asked.

“Tough work,” replied Russell, now 18, of Des Moines, Iowa, formerly of Gary.

Calling him a “dangerous” person, Cappas sentenced him to the maximum sentence of six years in prison under the plea agreement at the Indiana Department of Corrections; This was longer than prosecutors wanted. He would spend his final year at the Lake County Community Correctional Institution.

“This is what you see on the news all the time,” he told Russell.

Deputy Prosecutor Chris Bruno noted that cases involving violent robbery have been waived from juvenile court. He requested three years in prison, 1.5 years of community corrections and 18 months of supervised release for Russell.

Defense attorney Nick Barnes said there was more to Russell’s story.

After his father died and his mother became ill when he was 11, Barnes was left with his grandparents in Gary — “essentially unsupervised,” Barnes said. He asked her to avoid jail, saying he had already spent almost a year behind bars.

What happened was “definitely a disappointment” but “not a surprise.”

Russell, wearing a white juvenile prison jumpsuit, said he wanted to take his life “in a different direction.”

When Cappas asked how parole would “change your life,” Russell said he didn’t have an answer.

Hammond police responded early on Jan. 13 to the 3200 block of 163rd Street.

The victim said the trio invited him to smoke marijuana. He sat in the backseat of a car parked in the garage.

The older Russell got out of the car and forced the victim into the backyard, holding a switchblade to his throat. Three boys beat him and took his belongings, including his iPhone, Apple cards and his backpack.

Another 16-year-old had hit the victim in the head with part of the bed frame, according to testimony. Russell and the other 16-year-old boy beat, kicked and stomped him while he was on the ground.

The boy was too injured to ride his bike home. A witness called 911 and he was taken to the hospital. His nose was broken, his eye was swollen and he had cuts.

Police found the trio and the victim’s cell phone.

In September, a teenager was also sentenced to six years in prison after a plea deal on armed robbery charges.

The case of the second youth, who is also a minor, continues. He was also accused of helping rob a pizza deliveryman a year ago and was named as an accomplice.

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