A Gary man was sentenced to 75 years in prison Tuesday after he was convicted last month in a Tennessee man’s murder, a prosecutor’s spokeswoman said.
Antonio West, 54, received 60 years for murder and 15 on a firearms enhancement in the Sept. 8, 2021, death of Shawn Rhyan Pewitt, 39, of Rockvale, Tennessee, according to court records.
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Prosecutors alleged West supplied a woman drugs for hours, forced her to have sex as payment, then fatally shot Pewitt, her boyfriend and child’s father, when he came to get her.
At trial, defense co-counsel Kerry Connor, representing West with lawyer Sonya Scott-Dix, told the jury the evidence was much “different” than it was portrayed.
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The woman, Pewitt and another man were at a drug house nearby in Gary on Sept. 7, when West arrived, charges state. They all briefly went outside West’s apartment.
Pewitt wanted her to leave, but West told her to go inside. She did because she was afraid of him, the woman said. West forced her to have sex for six hits of crack cocaine, according to court documents.
Later on, she went with him for an appointment at a Social Security office and waited in the car. She called Pewitt, who told her to get out of the car and walk for help, documents state.
The woman was too scared and waited in the car, going back with West to his apartment, documents said. Pewitt returned to the apartment to get her, documents said.
“Let’s go,” he said, according to the probable cause affidavit.
“Hell, no,” West responded.
“You want to come outside, I’ll crack your head,” Pewitt said.
West fired a shot that hit him once in the chest, according to court documents. The woman tried to help him, screaming for someone to call 911. West fled in a white SUV.
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Pewitt was transported to Methodist Hospital Northlake where he was pronounced dead.
At trial, Connor and Dix argued the woman chose to “turn her back” and freely left with West. Later that day, when she and West were pulled over by police in Lowell, she never indicated she was in danger, Connor said.
Despite another person in the backroom of West’s basement apartment, the woman was the only other person that saw Pewitt get shot, she said.
Also, at the scene, there was no bullet or cartridge found, no swab, no blood sample of a trail left near the apartment, she said. The bullet pierced Pewitt’s chest and exited his back shoulder. Several people also walked through the crime scene, she said.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Jacob Brandewie and Arturo Balcazar led the state’s case. Senior Judge Michael Bergerson filled in for Judge Natalie Bokota during the trial.
