'Here I go:' Kenneth J. Hogan, Jr. deals with a 125-year sentence for murder, etc

ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. --It’s difficult to imagine any scenario for 69-year-old Kenneth R. Hogan, Jr. that would offer freedom, except for the afterlife.

Convicted in June of the shooting death of David Norris, one of his best friends, and the non-fatal shooting of Dominique White, a sometime companion, Hogan’s sentence climbed to a high of 125 years with consecutive sentencing - 65 for murder, 40 for attempted murder and 20 years for using a gun, known in Indiana as the gun enhancement that can add between five to 20 years to a sentence.

"Here I am," Hogan said, denying the gun and the cause of the homicide. "Here I go."

Kenneth R. Hogan, Jr., 69, viewed his sentencing with a detached point of view, but told the judge, Samuel Keirns, he intended to appeal his 125-year sentence.

Magistrate Samuel Keirns, who presided over Hogan’s June trial, took note of Hogan’s extensive record which dates back to 1975 and called him a “menace to society.”

While Hogan’s attorney, Ryan Gardner pointed out that recent charges were not particularly violent - traffic offenses, drunk driving and the like - Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tom Chaille said that he “absolutely rejected the mitigators.” 

Instead he brought up Hogan’s record of jail and prison time, “short and long,” his 18 misdemeanor charges, six prior felonies and the fact that he was on probation from an Allen Circuit Court case when he shot and killed Norris as he sat in the driver’s seat of his blue 2003 Toyota Rav4.

Hogan has maintained that Dominique White, seated in the passenger seat, was to blame for the confrontation, that she’d set him up to get robbed. He demonstrated in court on the stand how they tussled over a gun at the car window when it went off.

In court Monday morning, he exhibited a mixture of resignation and defiance. He looked over at two women, close to his age, sitting with a member of the Victim Assistance. They were for the victims. There didn’t seem to be anyone there for him.

“Unc” was on his own.

You can watch the sentencing video here:

https://youtu.be/NaG0RsCFRUk

Chaille read a letter that was from one of the women, sister to the deceased Norris. She admitted in the letter that her brother was “not perfect,” but wrote that he was a “kind man. 

“Devastation reached multiple homes that night.”

Chaille said Hogan hunted down White that evening in March 2024 that ended around 9:20 p.m. when police were called to 5002 Roberta Dr. on a shooting.

By that time, White was up on the porch of the home and Norris was seated at the wheel, his left leg hanging out of the vehicle, according to the probable cause affidavit.

In court, Hogan, his glasses perched on the top of his head, talked back a couple of times and told Keirns he was going to appeal.

When Hogan is eventually transferred from the Allen County Jail to RDC, the Reception Diagnostic Center in Plainfield, he could be well be 70. 

Monday, there were 102 Allen County inmates awaiting transport, a number that rarely goes down because each week there are new sentencings bumping the number back up.

Hogan will join upwards of 1,000 Hoosier inmates 65 or older. That statistic came from the IndyStar.

No statistics in the offender population numbers produced by the Indiana Department of Corrections give a breakdown on offender age, although a report from July 2025 indicates the average inmate age is 41.3.

Total population is close to 27,000 in state prisons here where it’s tough for a healthy inmate to get medical attention, according to those reporting to The Probable Cause.

“Just give him a life sentence,” one observer said after being told of Hogan’s 125 year sentence. “That’s two lifetimes.”