Judge officially sentences Gary man to death

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) -- A northwestern Indiana judge on Friday officially sentenced a Gary man to death for killing his wife and two teenage stepchildren.

The Times of Munster reports (http://bit.ly/YIeH9F ) Lake Superior Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. was bound by law to impose the jury's decision of a death sentence for 47-year-old Kevin Isom, but at the urging of the state handed Isom three consecutive death sentences.

A Lake County jury last month recommended the death penalty for Isom after finding him guilty in the August 2007 shooting deaths of his wife, Cassandra, and stepchildren, 16-year-old Michael Moore and 13-year-old Ci'Andria Cole in their Gary apartment. He was arrested after a 3 1/2-hour standoff with police. Police said 40-year-old Cassandra Isom was shot in the head and her two children suffered gunshot wounds to their bodies.

The defense argued Isom was struck unconscious by the real killer.

Cassandra Isom's younger brother presented her family's impact statement, calling Isom a "coward" who betrayed his wife and stepchildren.

Isom also was sentenced to 36 months on lesser counts for shooting at police during a standoff after the murders. Stefaniak noted those sentences in effect had been served during Isom's nearly six-year stay in the Lake County Jail.

Stefaniak set an execution date of Feb. 5, 2014.