Man who took plea deal in Amanda Blackburn case to spend 25 years in prison
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — One of two men who took plea deals in the fatal robbery of Amanda Blackburn was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said.
In the deal, Diano Gordon agreed to help prosecute Larry Taylor Jr. A judge in a bench trail last week found Taylor guilty of fatally shooting Blackburn, who was pregnant.
At part of Gordon’s deal, murder charges against him were dropped. He was found guilty of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury.
Taylor, along with Gordon and Jalen Watson, were linked to a series of home invasions. Taylor and Watson were also charged in a rape case at Westlake Apartments as well as the murder of Rolando Gonzalez-Hernandez less than a week before Blackburn’s murder.
Watson pleaded guilty back to burglary with a deadly weapon in 2017. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison.
The three men initially were charged with murdering Blackburn on Nov. 20, 2015. The were also charged in several other cases in the week leading up to her murder. Investigators said the men had burglarized two homes before Blackburn’s murder.
Taylor was found guilty of 12 of the 14 charges against him. He will be sentenced on Oct. 14. His rape case is still pending and is set for trial on Nov. 21.
