A Kalamazoo man was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for several convictions including kidnapping and attempted murder.
KALAMAZOO — A Kalamazoo man was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for several convictions including kidnapping and attempted murder.Michael Leroy Ketchum, 32, apologized to the mother of four boys he pulled a gun on during an attempted robbery and to his other victims.
“I wish I knew why I did the things I do,” he told Kalamazoo County Circuit Judge J. Richardson Johnson before being sentenced. “Sometimes we make decisions and we have to live with them.
“I hope people learn from my mistakes.”
Johnson noted that Ketchum had a “terrible” upbringing — one that included being shot at age 5 by a relative — but added, “we all need to take responsibility for our actions.”
Ketchum was sentenced on four cases Monday after pleading guilty to numerous charges. A fifth charging him with perjury for testifying at another man’s trial in November that he murdered Portage business man Bob Atkinson was dismissed.
Chased by police on June 8 for allegedly shoplifting components to make methamphetamine, Ketchum ran into a sandwich shop on South Westnedge Avenue in Portage, grabbed an older man and threatened to kill him, according to authorities. Police used a stun gun to subdue Ketchum then found a knife on the floor underneath him.
In that case, Ketchum was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison for kidnapping; eight to 20 years for operating/maintaining a laboratory involving methamphetamine; and one to two years for assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer.
In May, Ketchum pulled the gun on the four boys, whose ages were not disclosed, at a local hotel while demanding they tell him where electronics were located. He was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison for armed robbery and a consecutive two-year term for using a firearm during a felony in that case.
On Oct. 20, Ketchum beat up another inmate at the Kalamazoo County Jail and was charged with assault with intent to murder. He was sentenced to 28 to 60 years in prison in that case.
Weapons charges related to an April meth case led to two sentences of one to five years in prison and a consecutive two-year prison term.
Ketchum could have faced up to life in prison on the armed robbery, assault with intent to murder or kidnapping convictions.