Beulah Schooters Sentenced | Video

Alyssa Marino | 9/21/2012

Two Mercer County men were sentenced in court today after being charged with conspiracy to commit murder, a class AA felony. Richard Whitman will serve life in prison and Cody Borner will serve 30 years with supervised probation.

Back in January, Whitman and Borner took loaded guns in to a Beulah apartment to steal drugs. The robbery got violent, leaving Michael Padilla dead and his brother Timothy Padilla, injured.

Judge Bruce Romanick found Cody Borner not directly responsible. The court found Whitman`s gun as the one resulting in Padilla`s death, so he will get the maximum sentence.

Judge Romanick`s main point was that their actions greatly affected the people of North Dakota.

"This isn`t New York, Chicago, where maybe some of that happens on occasion. This is North Dakota. And people are affected by how this incident occurred."

Whitman is currently serving 18 months for another charge. His life sentence will be served concurrent with that. He will only be eligible for parole after 85 percent of his life sentence is completed.

COMMENT ON THIS STORY