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indystar reports: James Stewart today was sentenced to 425 years behind bars for his role in the Hamilton Avenue slayings.

The 33-year-old accomplice to Desmond Turner — now serving a life sentence without parole, plus 88 years — was convicted by a jury Dec. 11 after an eight-day trial. Today marks the end of a long road that began June 1, 2006, at 560 N. Hamilton Ave. on the city’s Near Eastside, where seven members of a family were gunned down.

Stewart received far from the maximum punishment available, but the sentence handed down this afternoon by Marion Superior Court Judge Robert Altice has zero real effect: He’ll serve out the rest of his life behind bars, unless an appeal — promised by Stewart, who maintains his innocence — is successful.

The minimum possible penalty was 315 years, the maximum 634 years. Stewart’s lawyer, Richard Bucheri, acknowledged the meaninglessness of the actual number when he asked Altice for the minimum: “Judge, Mr. Stewart knows the score here.”

A few minutes before sentencing was pronounced, Maria Flores, the sister of victim Emma Flores, asked him to send a message. “Please give us the peace of mind of knowing he will never be free to harm somebody else,” Flores said.

Besides Valdez, 46, the gunmen also killed her partner, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; their two young children; Valdez’s adult son and daughter; and her 5-year-old grandson.

Here’s how the sentence broke down: 55 years in prison on each of seven counts of felony murder, or 385 years total; 10 years on the six criminal confinement counts (run together, but in addition to the murders); four years for robbery; six years for burglary; one year for a handgun possession conviction (run concurrent with the other counts); and a 20-year enhancement because Stewart is a habitual felony offender.

Prosecutors, who have portrayed Stewart as an accomplice whose gun likely caused only one of the victims’ wounds, asked the judge to sentence him on the felony murder counts instead of another slate of “intentional” murder counts. He also was convicted of the latter based on accomplice liability, but felony murder requires only that a killing result during the robbery.

The judge heard tearful testimony from both sides — other family members of the victims discussed their loss, and Stewart’s sister and 16-year-old daughter talked about the sorrow the case has brought to their family. They believe Stewart was incapable of participating in such a crime.

“If I felt like my brother did it, I’d be standing right there with the victims’ family,” Natasha Stewart, 35, told reporters outside court. “I’m going to keep on praying for my brother and for their family.”

But she also addressed her feeling that Stewart was set on a course for conviction no matter the evidence. “I pray for every black person out there that has a family member walking around, that this doesn’t happen to you.”