Paul Henry Gingerich, a convicted killer at age 12 is now free at 19 and living in Indiana with his mother, but still faces electronic monitoring for another year.
Gingerich and Colt Lundy, who was 15, pleaded guilty in 2011 of conspiracy to commit murder for shooting and killing Lundy's stepfather Phil Danner in Kosciusko County Indiana, the Indianapolis Star reported.
They were both sentenced to 25 years in prison, making Gingerich one of the youngest in the history of the state to be sentenced as an adult. With the help of Indianapolis attorney Monica Foster, Gingerich was retried at 15 under new sentencing rules that allowed him to be monitored in the juvenile prison system.
Last October, Kosciusko County Judge James Heuer ruled that Gingerich was eligible to take part in the Community Transition Program there and received 180 days for "earned good time credit," WANE-TV reported.
Gingerich told the court then that treatment programs in his correctional facility have taught him how to ignore negative influences and become a leader.
"I can and will be a leader and law abiding citizen if given a second chance," Gingerich told the court, per WANE-. "Sorry will never be enough for the terrible mistake I've made."
CBS News said Lundy and Gingerich each fired two shots at Danner after the two boys and another youth, who did not take part in the actual shooting, allegedly planned the murder for weeks.
Nicole Gingerich, who lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, told the Star her son was released in March after his 19th birthday and is under 24-hour electronic monitoring while working a job at a manufacturing facility.
"He's really working hard on doing everything he is supposed to do and really trying to move forward," she said, per the Star.
Lundy was never retried and remains at the Correctional Industrial Facility in Pendleton, Indiana, with a possible release date of 2021.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.