A Michigan teenager will spend at least 35 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a Democratic Party official in Lansing last year, according to a plea agreement finalized last week.
Lamar Patrick Kemp, 15, is set to be sentenced to a minimum of 35 years in prison by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk on Sept. 11 after Draganchuk accepted a plea agreement with the Ingham County prosecutor that calls for a maximum sentence of at least 60 years, the Lansing State Journal reports.
Kemp pleaded guilty on Friday to shooting Ingham County Democratic Party Secretary Ted Lawson in the head in north Lansing last October as the 63-year-old campaigned for city council candidate Trini Lopez Pehlivanoglu.
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Kemp, who was 14 years old at the time, was with two other teens, including one who told police he witnessed Kemp ask Lawson for a dollar before Kemp fired the fatal round from his .22-caliber handgun. Lansing Police described the shooting as an attempted robbery, with former Chief Ellery Sosebee confirming that politics wasn’t a factor.
“I shot him,” Kemp told the court on Friday as he pleaded guilty to second degree murder, according to the Independent.
According to court records, Lawson was captured on surveillance camera leaving a driveway on North Jenison Avenue as three teens walked on the other side of the street. The video showed Kemp cross the street to approach Lawson and recorded a gunshot, as well as footage of the three teens fleeing on North Jenison.
Other video from a nearby dollar store minutes before the shooting was used to identify all three youth, according to the Journal.
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Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane cited Kemp’s prior criminal record in the juvenile system in his decision to charge the teen as an adult. Kemp and three adults were also charged with intimidating witnesses, but details surrounding those charges were not disclosed and the charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal, Deputy Chief Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Bill Crino said Friday.
Lawson’s murder was one of 15 in Lansing in 2023, as shooting crimes continued to rise in the Democratic controlled city. Several involved teenagers, and some remain unsolved, according to the Journal.
The most recent FBI data released in October shows Lansing’s overall crime rate is 70.82% above the national average, making it the 409th safest out of 436 Michigan cities. The city far exceeds the national and state averages for total crimes per 100,000 residents, as well as individual metrics for murder, robbery, aggravated assault, violent crime, burglary, larceny, car theft, and property crime.
For violent crime, the city’s rate of 1,279.2 violent crimes per 100,000 residents is 245.93% above the national average, according to the data.
Lansing’s problems with violent crime, particularly among teens, has remained a top issue for city officials in 2024, with Mayor Andy Schor calling for help from state and federal officials following a mass shooting at Rotary Park that killed 17-year-old Kylete Owens and injured six others in May, WILX reports.
Schor is now pushing for increased police patrols, live monitoring of the city’s camera system, curfews for minors, and more gun control laws.
“There needs to be greater consequences for those who lose their gun or allow their gun to be stolen,” Schor said at a May press conference.
Lansing Judge Rosemarie Aquilina has called out the Ingham County prosecutor’s office in the past over plea deals she argues are putting the community at risk, prompting a promise from Dewane last year to leverage Michigan’s Habitual Offender Law to secure harsher sentences for those with lengthy criminal histories.
“I intend to enforce the criminal laws enacted by our Legislature and hold offenders accountable to ensure Ingham County is a safe place for our citizens to live, work, and build their future,” Dewane said in a press release cited by WLNS.