LANSING — A Lansing Township woman has been sentenced to more than four years in prison in connection with the shooting death of a teenager during a raucous dispute at her home in late 2023.
Lydia Renee Nance, 37, shot her son’s ex-girlfriend and another woman while she was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. She initially was charged with open murder and assault with intent to murder but pleaded no contest to manslaughter with an agreement her minimum sentence would not exceed 57 months in prison.
On June 24, Ingham County Circuit Judge James Jamo sentenced her to 52 months to 15 years in prison after Nance’s attorney suggested he give her a jail-and-probation sentence. In the end, someone shot and killed an unarmed person, Jamo said.
“This not the first time I’ve had to sit here and listen to this type of story,” the judge said. “We have just far, far too much gun violence, not only in this community, but broadly.”
The fatal encounter happened in December 2023 at Nance’s home in the 1400 block of Ravenswood Drive. Brooke Lawson, 17, of Lansing, died at a hospital from a gunshot wound to the chest. Autumn Hansbarger, then 20, of Mulliken, was shot in the hip but survived.
Nance told the dispatcher people were causing problems and that she had a gun in her hand and was ready to shoot.
“So, I just ‘wanna’ let you know, when I shoot these bitches in my yard, it’s ’cause’ they came up here ‘messin’ with me and my family,” Nance said on the call, according to a court document.
Some of the facts were disputed.
Defense attorney Edwar Zeineh contended the victims entered the house illegally before they were shot, and he suggested Nance acted in self-defense. The shooting resulted from a complicated dynamic that dated back years, and police ignored “escalation and lethality factors,” he said.
“My client didn’t set out that day to kill or hurt anybody,” he said.
He asked for a sentence below the recommended 57 months and suggested Jamo consider jail and probation.
Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Jessica Shah noted that Nance told the dispatcher she was going to shoot someone in her yard, and she disputed any assertion Nance was a victim. Nance brought a gun to a fistfight, she said.
“This wasn’t about self-defense, it was about anger,” she said.
Lawson’s father, Steven Lawson, described Brooke as a “strong young woman who would fight for the less fortunate” and said family trips to Drummond Island will never be the same without her.
He asked Jamo to “impose the maximum sentence pemitted by law.”
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing Township woman sentenced for killing teen girl in dispute
Reporting by Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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By Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
