Former security guard convicted in 2018 Dayton murder gets 3 more years in prison

Steven Coleman

Credit: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

Credit: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

Steven Coleman

A former security guard sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in the shooting death of a 29-year-old man in a bar parking lot will spend more time behind bars.

Steven Lamar Coleman, 51, of Dayton, was sentenced Monday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to three more years in prison, for a total of 23 years to life, after the 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled the trial court made a sentencing error, according to a release from county Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr.

Coleman is imprisoned for the Nov. 7, 2018, shooting death of 29-year-old Robert Lee Burdette.

Coleman was working as a security guard for the Ashwood Lounge, 3500 N. Main St., in Dayton when Burdette and his cousin were involved in a verbal dispute with another security guard. Prosecutors said Coleman punched Burdette in the face and then pulled out a .40-caliber handgun and shot him in the head. Burdette died three days later at a local hospital after he was removed from life support.

Coleman was convicted in December 2019 of three counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, single counts of tampering with evidence and discharge of a firearm on or near a prohibited premises and two counts of having weapons while under disability for prior drug convictions. All but two counts carried three-year firearm specifications.

The court sentenced Coleman to 20 years to life in prison. The prosecutor’s office appealed the sentence, arguing that the trial court erred by merging the counts of murder and discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises, the release stated.

The appellate court ruled that the counts should not have been merged for sentencing and remanded the case back to the trial court for resentencing.

Coleman is incarcerated at the Chillecothe Correctional Institution, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction website.

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