Man gets 17.5 years in girlfriend’s death

43-year-old was found shot dead in April in Bishop Noll parking lot

An East Chicago man was sentenced to 17.5 years Friday after he pleaded guilty to lower charges in the death of his girlfriend, who was found fatally shot in a car in the Bishop Noll Institute parking lot.

Mark Jeaquan Halliburton, 39, admitted to voluntary manslaughter in the April 11 death of Monica Mills, 43, of Hammond. He signed a plea agreement filed Sept. 29.

Judge Salvador Vasquez asked both sides how that sentence in the Indiana Department of Correction was “appropriate” for Mills’ death.

The shooting was in “sudden heat,” defense lawyer John Cantrell said. The pair had a volatile relationship, with an ongoing fight for 17 days at the time of her death, based on texts and calls to the police, he told the judge.

Halliburton fired a single shot that hit her in a “downward” angle, the lawyer said. Halliburton’s past convictions were mostly for nonviolent drug offenses, he said. He was originally charged with murder.

Charging documents indicated the gun went off during a fight.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tara Villarreal said Mills’ daughter agreed with the plea deal. There was evidence — presented at Halliburton’s bail request hearings — that “can’t be submitted” at trial, she said, which has stricter legal standards for hearsay.

Unfortunately, their relationship was “very toxic,” Villarreal said.

A trial was a “risk,” she said. Halliburton apologized in a letter he read aloud in court.

“I am ashamed of the heartache and pain I caused,” he said.

Vasquez told both sides he was reluctant to accept the plea agreement, because Haliburton caused a “lifetime of pain” to Mills’ daughter.

When the daughter indicated again from the audience that she accepted it, the judge agreed to it.

“Everybody wants this to go forward,” he said. “I’ll accept your plea.”

Police were called April 11 to Bishop Noll, 1519 Hoffman St., where they found Mills inside a blue 2000 Ford Focus, charges state. She was unconscious and paramedics couldn’t find a pulse. She was transported to the hospital.

Halliburton walked out of an apartment east of the school and approached police while talking on his phone.

He said Mills was his girlfriend and claimed two males walked up to their car and shot her through the passenger window, the affidavit states.

He was “extremely shaken up” and became more “incoherent” as he talked to police, charges state.

A relative living nearby said Halliburton told another family member that the gun went off while he was fighting with Mills, documents allege.