Two Indiana residents charged in connection with a deadly 2019 home invasion in Allen County have entered guilty pleas.

Derek Lucas, 27, and Rylan Wiles, 23, each pleaded guilty to charges of facilitation of first-degree robbery and facilitation of first-degree burglary.

The two men admitted to crimes stemming from a May 7, 2019, incident in which they and Sevonte Sumpter-Bey forced their way into the Stinson Lane residence of Justin Wix.

During the incident, Wix, 47, was shot and killed.

A subsequent investigation by Kentucky State Police led to the arrests of all three men for murder and other offenses.

Sumpter-Bey, 25, also from Indiana, pleaded guilty in 2023 in Allen Circuit Court to complicity to first-degree manslaughter, complicity to second-degree robbery and complicity to second-degree burglary, accepting an offer to serve a 15-year sentence.

Lucas and Wiles were scheduled to go to trial Aug. 4 on charges of murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and tampering with physical evidence, but a mediation held Tuesday resulted in plea agreements for both men that dismissed the murder and tampering counts and recommended eight-year prison terms.

“Had we tried the case we would have no control of what a jury might do and we believe that such a disposition where the murder charge was dismissed and he received two Class D felonies was in his best interest,” said Wiles’ attorney, Ken Garrett.

When they were arrested, Lucas and Wiles declined to give statements to police, but Sumpter-Bey told KSP detectives that Wiles was the shooter, according to court records.

Garrett said that the prosecution operated on that theory, but Sumpter-Bey “did a really poor job” of supporting his allegation with the available physical evidence.

“His statements (to police) made him entirely susceptible to being attacked on his credibility (as a trial witness),” Garrett said.

Sumpter-Bey was allowed to withdraw from an earlier plea agreement recommending a 22-year sentence, claiming that he did not have the mental competency to understand what he was pleading guilty to.

Sumpter-Bey then underwent a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, but attorneys for Lucas and Wiles subsequently argued that the results of the evaluation showed that Sumpter-Bey essentially made up his symptoms in order to obtain a better plea deal.

Garrett said that those events would have raised credibility issues for Sumpter-Bey at the trial for Wiles and Lucas, given them the ability to place blame for the homicide on Sumpter-Bey, since he had already pleaded to a manslaughter count.

KSP learned of the involvement of the three men in the 2019 incident through a tip from a person who claimed to have overheard Wiles, Lucas and Sumpter-Bey boast about the incident, according to prior court testimony.

Wiles also pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of first-degree promoting contraband, stemming from allegations that he and another Allen County Detention Center inmate smuggled methamphetamine into the facility in 2022.

Garrett said that Wiles accepted a two-year sentence in the case, to be served concurrent with the eight-year prison term in the home invasion case.

Allen County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Lindsey did not return a message seeking comment ahead of deadline.

Lucas and Wiles are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 14, while Sumpter-Bey’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 12.