Killer gets 30 years

BROWNSTOWN — The mother of a 32-year-old Crothersville man beaten to death last April spoke Tuesday about her son and one of his killers.

“I think he wanted to see what it was like to kill someone,” Martha Gumm said of Coleman M. King, 18, of Crothersville during his sentencing hearing in Jackson Circuit Court in connection with the death of Aaron “Shorty” Hall, 32.

Jackson Circuit Judge Bill Vance accepted King’s voluntary manslaughter plea Tuesday, entered Dec. 17, and ordered King to spend the next 30 years in prison. None of the sentence was suspended.

Gumm said King showed no mercy for her son and asked Vance to impose the toughest sentence he could.

“He left my son for dead after beating and torturing him for hours and went back the next day to shoot him if he wasn’t dead,” Gumm said.

Gumm said she cries every day knowing her son had to die alone.

“It was so sad and cruel the way they killed him,” she said.

A second man charged in Hall’s death, Garret L. Gray, 19, also of Crothersville, entered a similar plea agreement on Jan. 2. Gray is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 30.

During his plea hearing, King admitted to beating Hall to death. King said he became extremely irritated and angry when Hall questioned his sexuality and grabbed King’s crotch.

That incident occurred as the two drank beer and whiskey with Gray at Gray’s home, 6420 S. 1025E, Crothersville, according to court documents. King also admitted he kicked Hall in the head more than one time after Hall was taken to a rural Crothersville area and left on the ground near Cinder Road.

King said he knew Hall might die if he kicked him in the head with his cowboy boots.

King and Gray later retrieved Hall’s body from a field near where he was left and took it back to Gray’s home. Police found Hall’s body wrapped in a blue tarp behind cabinets in the garage on April 24.

Police found the body after an investigation began when Hall was reported missing by an acquaintance.

Sabrina Baker, the mother of Hall’s 10-year-old daughter, also testified during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

“You permanently damaged her,” Baker said of her daughter. “All she has left of him now is pictures and memories. Shorty was so much to so many people. Now all we have is to visit his grave.”

King’s attorney, Joseph Payne, called no witnesses or presented any evidence or statements during the hearing, which lasted less than 10 minutes.

Payne declined to comment after the hearing.

After the hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Amy Travis said the family was in agreement with the plea deal and that she always tries to go along with wishes of the family if they fall within the scope of the law.