Convicted murderer Lorenzo Ladiner was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison in connection with the slaying of 17-year-old Tedarrian Robinson last year.

Ladiner

Ladiner, 22, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against co-defendant Kristopher Prince.

Ladiner testified at Prince’s trial last week that on April 18, 2007, he drove a chase car while Prince shot an assault rifle out of it at a car Robinson was riding in. Robinson died from a gunshot wound to the back of the neck.

A Boone County jury on Friday convicted Prince, 19, and recommended prison terms totaling 50 years for second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action. His sentencing is set for next month.

Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Knight had agreed to recommend the 20-year sentence under the plea agreement. Ladiner’s attorney, Chris Slusher of Columbia, said he asked Boone County Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton for a 15-year sentence.

Although in line with the prosecution’s recommendation, Slusher said his client reacted negatively when hearing the sentence.

"He expected it, but he was disappointed when he heard it," Slusher said. "The reality of it kind of sets in when you’re sitting in front of a judge and hear it."

Ladiner’s murder sentence will run concurrent with a 15-year sentence in another case for unlawful use of a weapon. That charge stems from a shooting the day before Robinson’s murder outside the southwest Columbia residence of Larry McBride, the driver of the car in which Robinson was riding. Police said McBride had been feuding with Ladiner and Prince.

Ladiner’s sentencing hearing was set for 1:30 p.m. yesterday but was moved up to the morning at the request of Boone County deputies because of transportation issues, Knight said.

McBride appeared at the afternoon docket and was sentenced to seven years in prison on possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute. Police found about 11 grams of crack cocaine in McBride’s underwear after stopping the car he was driving erratically toward University Hospital after the shooting.

McBride received a sentencing recommendation of 10 years from prosecutors under a plea agreement that called for him to testify in two trials, Prince’s and an assault case earlier this year.

But Knight did not call McBride to testify last week, explaining McBride initially told police he could not identify who the shooter was. "Larry was someone that - just depending on how the trial went - I would have him in reserve," he said today.

Knight also said McBride upheld his end of the agreement, testifying against George Harris in an April shooting trial and testifying at a deposition in the Prince case.

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