INDIANAPOLIS — The first of four suspects to be sentenced in the 2017 murder of Dr. Kevin Rodgers will be in prison until 2048.
On Thursday, Marion County Criminal Court Judge Barbara Crawford sentenced 19-year-old Nehemiah Merriweather to 30 years behind bars, of which about two years has already been served.
Merriweather had been charged with murder and burglary, but in a plea agreement, the murder charge was dropped.
The same plea agreement was worked out with two other suspects. 17-year-old Tarius Blade and 20-year-old Karon Bickham-Hurst are expected to be sentenced Friday.
That leaves 18-year-old Devon Seats, the alleged triggerman. He has already pleaded guilty to murder and burglary charges and is scheduled for sentencing February 13.
Rodgers, a prominent Indianapolis physician who specialized in emergency medicine, was shot to death at his home on the Indianapolis northwest side in November 2017. Investigators said the four suspects broke into the home to burglarize it.
Rodgers, however, was home at the time and confronted the group. The doctor, who had been on the phone with his wife just prior to the incident, was shot and killed. She came home to find his body.
