A third accomplice to the 2023 killing of a McLean County man was sentenced Tuesday to 70 years in prison.
Justin Kletz, 28, was sentenced for his part in the death of 31-year-old Jamere D. Bew of Bloomington.
Authorities say on Thanksgiving weekend in 2023, Kletz and co-defendant Derek Siebring beat Bew with a baseball bat inside Kletz’s apartment before driving him to rural McLean County in a car owned by Bew's girlfriend, Gabrielle Stine.
Stine identified Siebring as the lone gunman who then shot Bew several times before his body was left in a ditch near U.S. 136 and 1025 East Road in Funks Grove Township, between McLean and Heyworth.
Prosecutors determined Stine took photos and a video of Bew bound and bleeding in Kletz’s apartment before he was murdered, despite initially claiming she was not involved. She is serving 40 years in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Kletz is the last of the three defendants to be sentenced. Siebring pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated battery, and in March was sentenced to a total of 68 years in prison.
Kletz entered an open or "blind" guilty plea on Sept. 8. He is required to serve 100% of the 70-year sentence issued Tuesday by Judge William Yoder.
