With respectful disagreement to the appellate court for ordering him to do so, Allen Superior Judge John Surbeck on Monday more than cut in half the 70-year prison sentence of a man convicted in a pair of violent home invasions.

In May, the Indiana Court of Appeals ordered Surbeck to resentence 19-year-old Malcolm Ellis for his role in a pair of violent home-invasion robberies committed in mid-February 2007.

Ellis, then 16; Austin Knight, then 17; Johnnie Walker, then 18; and Antonio Wright, then 20; were all arrested in connection with the robberies at what was then Brighton Meadows Apartments off Getz Road.

Knight and Ellis stole keys from the complex’s leasing office then used those keys to get into two apartments in the early morning hours, wearing hoods and masks and armed with a handgun, a BB pistol and a pellet gun.

In the first apartment, they rousted Beatriz Ward, tied her up and shot her in the leg with the pellet gun before they made off with electronics and personal items. They shot and killed her goldfish on their way out the door.

Then they went across the hall and forced a woman to strip naked in front of her boyfriend’s brother after forcing the boyfriend into a closet. Another woman was taken from the apartment at gunpoint to a nearby ATM and forced to withdraw money. Meanwhile, Ward freed herself and made her way to a neighbor’s apartment to call police.

After initially pleading guilty under an agreement that would have given him 36 years in prison, Ellis and two of his co-defendants withdrew their guilty pleas, refusing to testify against Wright in spite of their promise to do so.

After Wright was convicted of his role in the robberies, and sentenced to 80 years, Knight, Ellis and Walker again pleaded guilty, this time without the benefit of an agreed-upon sentence.

Knight, Ellis and Walker were all sentenced to 70 years and the appellate court turned down Knight’s request to revisit his sentence earlier this year.

While Knight is only eight months older than Ellis, the court found that Ellis’ sentence was too harsh for someone his age and ordered Surbeck to redo it.

In its split decision, the court cited the prosecution’s earlier offer of 36 years as a reason to give a shorter prison sentence.

That, Surbeck said during Monday’s hearing, is inappropriate, asking the state to be held to its end of the agreement, but not requiring the same of the defendant.

“I still believe the original sentence I passed was accurate and proper,” Surbeck said.

The drop in the sentence left the victims incredulous, Deputy Prosecutor Adam Mildred said.

According to Ellis’ attorney, he has obtained his GED and has begun to take college classes.

Surbeck sentenced Ellis to 36 years in prison, suspending four years and ordering them to be served on probation.

rgreen@jg.net