FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Two men were sentenced Monday who were initially charged with murder after a man was found dead on Lower Huntington Road last year. A judge in Allen Superior Court sentenced Samuel W. Evans III to four years in prison for battery in connection to the case. The man's sentence was further reduced by over a year because he was given jail credit for the 481 days he'd already spent behind bars as his case wound through the legal system. Monday afternoon, the judge handed down another sentence in the same case. Jesse Shears was sentenced to 10 years in prison with 480 days of jail credit. Fort Wayne Police arrested Evans, Shears and two others in July 2023 after finding that 40-year-old Dennis Dwayne Starr had been shot and killed in a car near the intersection of Lower Huntington Road and Kruge Drive. Evans pleaded guilty in November 2023 to the Level 5 felony charge of battery resulting in serious injury, according to Allen Superior Court documents. The deal was accepted by the judge Monday and the murder charge was dismissed. Similar to Evans, Shears eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in exchange for prosecutors dropping the murder charge levied against him. The other two suspects - Samuel Evans IV and Lexus Evans - still face murder charges in the case. Evans III was identified in court documents as the father of Lexus and Samuel Evans IV. According to those documents, Lexus Evans was Starr's girlfriend and the shooting stemmed from an alleged assault at a cookout. Lexus told police in court documents she was jumped by Starr’s friends, and it wasn’t until he returned and told them it was enough that they allegedly stopped assaulting her. Former ENSC athletic director arrested after stealing $11k in mileage reimbursements Detectives used surveillance footage and cell phone pings to track the accused as they allegedly followed Starr on his way to work a few days later. He was found dead in a car near the intersection of Lower Huntington Road and Kruge Drive. The autopsy determined Starr died from a gunshot wound in his chest and his death was ruled a homicide.