CROWN POINT | Damien Pace-Anders was sentenced Thursday to 57 years in prison for what Lake County prosecutors called the "senseless" shooting death of a Gary man.

The motive, prosecutors said, was $5 that the victim apparently owed the suspect.

Pace-Anders, 28, of Gary, maintained his innocence throughout the sentencing and vowed to appeal his conviction. In March, a jury found him guilty of the 2007 murder of 23-year-old Haywood Carpenter.

"I still proclaim my innocence. I lost my brother to crime. To see what my mother went through, I feel your pain," Pace-Anders said to Carpenter family members gathered in the courtroom. "(Carpenter's mother) will never see her son again. I'll never see my brother again, and there ain't nothing either of us can do about it."

Carpenter died Oct. 18 of gunshots to his left side, hip area, buttocks and head, court records state. He was Gary's 59th homicide victim of 2007.

Less than two weeks after Carpenter's death, Pace-Anders' brother, Trenton, was fatally shot on West Fifth Avenue in Gary. Gary police said Trenton Pace-Anders' death remained under investigation Thursday.

"Words can't even express it," Carpenter's mother LaTanya Carpenter sobbed Thursday, speaking of the pain of losing her son. "It's so devastating. ... This was my child. I don't know why this happened over $5. If I could have given the $5, it would have spared my baby's life."

Before the sentencing, Lake County Criminal Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. denied Pace-Anders' attorney's motion to ignore the jury's verdict and issue judgment based on the evidence.

Pace-Anders' attorney Lemuel Stigler contended the state did not disprove Pace-Anders' alibi and did not have sufficient evidence to convict him.