ADRIAN — A teen from Rollin Township who pled no contest to second-degree murder in the 2023 shooting death of his mother’s boyfriend was sentenced Jan. 30 to 12 to 50 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Trenton Karl‑Mark Berry, 19, entered the plea on Nov. 3, 2025 — the day his two‑week trial was set to begin — in connection with the death of 53‑year‑old Kirt Stubbins, his mother’s live‑in boyfriend of eight years. The fatal shooting occurred Nov. 30, 2023, while the two were hunting off Rome Road in Rollin Township.
According to court records, Berry told a detective with the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office that he would never shoot Stubbins. Investigators, however, said tracks in the snow at the scene belonged only to Berry and Stubbins.
Police also said Berry was armed with a hunting rifle at the time of the shooting, and the Michigan State Police Crime Lab linked the fatal bullet to that rifle.
Berry was originally charged with open murder — allowing a jury to consider first- or second‑degree murder — as well as felony firearm. Those charges were dismissed under the terms of the plea agreement.
Berry was 17 at the time of the shooting, but prosecutors charged him as an adult under Michigan’s “Raising the Age” Law, enacted in 2021.
— Contact reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @cmurrayhdn.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Rollin Twp. teen to serve 12-50 years for shooting mother’s boyfriend
Reporting by Corey J. Murray, The Daily Telegram / The Daily Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
