Lamonte Hill was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison for voluntary manslaughter while armed in connection with the shooting and stabbing death of Brian Bloomfield.
Hill pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea deal that reduced his charges from second-degree murder while armed and a related weapons offense.
Police found Bloomfield on June 11, 2012 suffering from stab wounds and an upper gunshot wound at the 3400 block of 13th Place Southeast.
Bloomfield’s family addressed the court Friday about their loss. “He acted more like a father to me than an uncle,” said Khalilia Faunteroy, “His children had the best father in the world.”
Hill apologized to Bloomfield’s family and asked for forgiveness, saying, “I’m so disgusted with myself that I can’t sleep some nights.”
According to the proffer of facts, Hill and another man followed Bloomfield that night as he exited through the rear door of an apartment building. Then the two men assaulted Bloomfield, stabbing him several times and shooting him once.
Plea documents say Bloomfield grabbed a gun during the assault but he could not hold on to it because he was too severely injured. Hill and the other man left the scene with the gun and knife used to assault Bloomfield, according to the documents.
Hill’s defense attorney Matthew Davies described the scene as confusing and said that Bloomfield was in an altercation with Hill in which Bloomfield had a gun and shot off Hill’s pinky finger. After that, Bloomfild tried to leave the area in his vehicle, according to Davies.
Bloomfield’s mother thought that any claim of self-defense was unfounded. “My son had his son in his car,” said Frankie Smith, “My son would never have taken his son to commit a crime.”
“There is no good ending here,” said Judge Johnson while handing down Hill’s sentence, “You can’t put a price like that on a human life.”
