RAPID CITY, S.D. – A Rapid City man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for his involvement in the murder of 31-year-old Vernon Marshall on Christmas Eve, 2020.
Kaleb Lukkes, 22, was sentenced by Judge Craig Pfeifle.
He is the fourth and final sentencing of suspects in the case.
Lukkes pleaded guilty to the charge on October 20, in exchange for the state dropping an aiding and abetting first-degree murder charge that could have landed him in prison for life.
Marshall was found lying on the ground near the 1000 block of Silverleaf Avenue after being shot twice in the back on December 24, 2020.
Court documents indicate on the night of his death, Marshall had met with Lukkes, two other men and a woman for what he thought was going to be a drug deal.
Instead, court records and testimony indicate, the group met with Marshall to confront him about allegedly inappropriate messages he sent to a relative of one of the suspects.
