A Bowling Green man who pleaded guilty to crimes stemming from a deadly 2021 shooting received a 30-year prison sentence.

Kamonte Grissom, 22, was sentenced Tuesday in Warren Circuit Court following his guilty plea a month earlier to charges of murder, first-degree robbery, tampering with physical evidence and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.

Grissom acknowledged shooting Terrance R. Barton, 20, of Bowling Green on Dec. 21, 2021, outside a gas station on Nashville Road.

The case was scheduled to go to trial this summer, where Grissom faced up to 50 years or life in prison if convicted as charged.

Barton’s father, Terrance Barton Sr., said at the hearing in which Grissom pleaded guilty last month that he would have preferred to see the case go to trial, and reiterated that wish at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

“I feel like I never had a voice in this,” Barton said. “We didn’t agree to no deal.”

Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kori Beck Bumgarner said she notified Barton’s family of court proceedings and the family was present over Zoom for mediation of the case.

Bumgarner said that she met with the family to go over trial preparations and informed them of any lesser offenses for which a jury could convict Grissom, and the family then authorized her to continue plea negotiations with Grissom’s attorney, Jeb Dennis of the Department of Public Advocacy.

After an offer of a 30-year sentence was accepted by Grissom, Barton’s family informed Bumgarner that they did not wish to go forward with it, Bumgarner said.

Special Judge Steve Wilson, sitting in for Warren Circuit Judge J.B. Hines, said that Bumgarner acted in accordance with Marsy’s Law, the state law that gives crime victims the right to consult with the commonwealth’s attorney and be heard in any proceeding involving release, plea, sentencing or consideration of a pardon or commutation.

Wilson said that while a victim’s family can express their wishes as a case proceeds, the ultimate decision on how to go forward with a case rests with the commonwealth’s attorney.

“I respect the hardship, the hurt, the loss,” Wilson said, addressing Barton. “Over 40-plus years, I can tell you, trials don’t fill the hole. The only thing a trial does is lead to appeal, appeal, appeal. This (plea) is an issue of certainty and I hope you can find peace in that.”

The Bowling Green Police Department was dispatched to the Marathon gas station, 2229 Nashville Road, on the night of the shooting, and found Barton in a BMW 320i Series that had struck another vehicle on Nashville Road and Emmett Avenue.

Barton was taken to The Medical Center with multiple gunshot wounds, and was pronounced dead there.

City police found evidence that Barton and Grissom had texted one another prior to the shooting, and the two had arranged to meet at the gas station, where it was planned for Grissom to buy some marijuana from Barton.

According to court records, Grissom arrived armed and without money and fired several shots into Barton’s vehicle.

Grissom was located walking along Nashville Road and he was detained by BGPD.

After consenting to a police interview, Grissom acknowledged that he planned to rob Barton and fired his gun until it jammed, and then disposed of the gun near a fence line beside an apartment complex, court records show.