LANSING — A parolee was sentenced to more than 7 years in prison for a weapons offense on Wednesday, several months after a jury couldn’t decide if he was guilty or innocent of murder and other charges stemming from the shooting of two people in Lansing nearly four years ago.
Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina cited concerns about public safety in sentencing Rodolfo Alvarez, 34, to 7½ to 20 years for his conviction on a carrying a concealed weapon charge in November.
CCW is maximum five-year felony, but Alzarez was convicted as a fourth-time habitual offender, which bumped his maximum sentence to life in prison.
Alvarez was among two people charged with murdering Tameka Jackson and trying to kill her boyfriend, Augustus Robinson, in March 2020. The other defendant, John William Kennedy, fired the shots that killed Jackson and seriously injured Robinson , but Alvarez was charged as an aider-and-abettor.
A jury in November deliberated for several days before convicting Alvarez of CCW, but Aquilina declared the panel hung on the seven other counts he was charged with. Those charges technically are still pending, although it was unclear whether prosecutors will seek a retrial.