21-year-old gets 65-year sentence in 2006 South Bend murder

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Larry Mitchell was sentenced for the murder of Ja-Vonda Tharbs

A judge sentenced 21-year-old Larry Mitchell of South Bend to 65 years in prison Friday morning, Jan. 11, 2008, for the murder of Ja-Vonda Tharbs in 2006. (Photo provided)

By Tiffany Griffin

Story Created: Jan 11, 2008 at 12:55 PM EST

Story Updated: Jan 11, 2008 at 1:54 PM EST

SOUTH BEND — A judge sentenced a 21-year-old South Bend man to 65 years in prison Friday morning for the murder of Ja-Vonda Tharbs in 2006.

Tharbs, 16, was shot at her sister’s Beacon Heights apartment while waiting to go to the prom. Her shooting reportedly was an act of retribution and she was not the intended victim.

Judge John M. Marnocha gave Larry R. Mitchell the maximum sentence he could after noting that the nature and circumstances surrounding the killing could have made for a death penalty case.

The judge also referred to a 2005 interview in Sight-360 magazine in which Mitchell talks about street violence. The judge said he read the interview "with interest," adding that "it doesn’t surprise me a bit that you are where you are given the views you expressed in that article."

"The maximum sentence is reserved for the worst offenders and you are the worst offender," Marnocha told the defendant.

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