A man who shot his stepfather after the man had a violent argument with his mother will serve 17.5 years for the crime.

Lake Superior Criminal Court Judge Gina Jones sentenced James Gregory Adams Jr., to 17.5 years — 10 years in prison; 2.5 years in Community Corrections, which he can petition the court after one year for home detention; and five years’ probation — for the shooting death of Lanier Miller, 48, during a sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon. The sentence was the advisory number of a plea agreement which had Adams, of Gary, facing between 10 years and 30 years for voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony.

Adams’ sister and co-defendant, Ferria L. Jones-Adams, was charged with a Level 5 assisting a criminal when the criminal who was assisted committed murder 1 or 2. She has a hearing before Jones on December 3, according to court records.

Defense attorney Jennie Bell had asked Jones to sentence Adams to 10 years, with five in Community Corrections and five on probation, because “He’s pleading guilty” and warrants no other aggravators. Adams, now 30, “has been cooperative and is remorseful” for what happened, Bell said.

“(Adams and Jones going to Miller’s place of work) was an exchange to keep peace and is being mischaracterized as a ‘witch hunt,’” Bell said, adding that Miller had attempted to murder Adams’s mother when he hit her with his car after a party three hours before the shooting, though charges were never filed. “I think retribution is being sought.”

“That’s a mischaracterization of what happened,” Judge Jones said.

After putting several witnesses on the stand who’d written “victim impact statements” on behalf of Adams – including his half-sister Fanyiah, whose father is Miller and who begged the court to consider “the impossible decision (Adams) had to make” – Miller’s sister, Janele Brown, read victim impact statements from Miller’s youngest daughter, Paige; her sister Alfreda Williams; and mother Carol Williams. Paige said she wanted “justice for her granny and her father.”

“I feel so upset. He missed my 9th birthday,” Brown read. “I know he’s sad he’ll miss my birthdays, my graduation, daddy-daughter dances. He did not deserve this, and I know he’s looking down.”

Brown spoke for the family after the sentencing and said that while the sentence wasn’t the 29 years Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Judy Massa asked for, it wasn’t nothing, either.

“The past two years have been a tsunami. This case has brought so many emotions, and we were finally able to piece together everything,” Brown said. “James still has to serve time, and now he has time to think about his actions.”

Munster Police were called around 4 a.m. Feb. 27 to MRC Global, 101 45th Street, near the Illinois state line, where a man, identified as Miller, was lying just outside a white Dodge Charger facing the loading bays with the driver’s side door glass shattered, the Post-Tribune previously reported.

Miller, of South Holland, Illinois, was shot in the head and declared dead at the scene, according to court records.

Soon after, a relative dropped off Adams Jr. and Jones at the Munster Town Hall, telling police officers they were involved with the shooting and the weapons were inside the car. Police took a silver and black Smith and Wesson gun and a black Glock 31, according to court records.

Jones, who had a “red stain” on her knee and said she was grazed by a bullet, told detectives the story began when a relative called her, saying Miller hit her mother with a car in Gary after they got into an argument when they got back from a party for his sister. Her family rushed to her mom’s house to see how she fared, seeing a bunch of cops there.

Their mother left her purse in the car — containing the Smith and Wesson — and Miller dropped his cell phone on the ground.

Miller later called his phone from MRC Global, telling a relative he’d trade it for her purse. Adams Jr. “recognized” the phone number, because he’d also worked there, too, the affidavit states.

Adams Jr. and Jones went to make the exchange. She gave different versions of what happened. Miller appeared to be “asleep” and “surprised to see him.

Jones then changed her story and said Miller was listening to music when they arrived. Her brother first tried to find something in her trunk to “jimmy” open the locked door. When he couldn’t find anything, he ran away and grabbed a tire-chock to bust open the driver’s side window. He didn’t want to use a gun in case it accidentally went off.

When Miller tried to grab the mother’s gun, Adams tried to pull him away from it, ripping Miller’s shirt.

Jones jumped out and went to help her brother. Miller fired a shot that grazed her knee.

She “heard another shot”, but didn’t know who fired, she said, in court documents. They swapped and Adams drove away, saying Miller was shot. Two relatives were on the phone during the shooting and told them to go to the police station.

Jones claimed at first, they went back for their mom’s things, before just skipping it. She later admitted they took back her gun, seeing Miller with his legs sticking out, struggling to breathe.

Adams told police they first swung by the Hard Rock Casino looking for Miller because he had a “gambling problem,” before heading to his workplace in Munster.

Once they found him in Munster, Miller said had “no intention” of talking with Adams, so he went to break out the car window. He grabbed a tire chock 40 yards away and busted out the window. The men started fighting, and pulled Miller’s shirt off. When Miller tried to reach for the mother’s gun, Jones ran around and tried to grab it from him. Adams pressed his gun to Miller’s back and then shot Miller.

Miller started to “slur” and “trail off”. Adams said he “panicked” and didn’t know what to do, taking the mom’s purse then putting it back. They left, then went back, because his gun magazine fell out, grabbing it from Miller’s car. They also grabbed the purse and other gun.

They met with a relative at a Highland gas station who called 911 and took them to turn themselves in at the Munster Town Hall, where the police department is located.

Miller’s relative told police he and the mother left Miller’s sister’s party drunk around 11 p.m. Soon after, she got “nasty” calls from the mother’s relatives after Miller hit her.

Adams’ mother was more pleasant, saying she just wanted her stuff back, records state, the Post-Tribune previously reported.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/24/gary-man-gets-10-years-in-prison-for-shooting-stepfather/