Zaiden Guy is a teen killer from Indiana who would be convicted of the murder of Byron Dennis Jr. in Marion
According to court documents Zaiden Guy, who was thirteen years old at the time, would go to a Circle K in Marion Indiana where he would attempt to rob Byron Dennis Jr. who would be fatally shot in the process
Zaiden Guy would be arrested, ultimately plead guilty and would be sentenced to forty five years in prison. Due to his age he will be held in a Indiana juvenile facility until he turns eighteen years old
Zaiden Guy Case
A Marion teen charged with murder when he was just 13 years old will spend the next 45 years in prison for killing a man in March 2024.
Zaiden Guy, who is 14 now, pleaded guilty in April – without a plea agreement – to shooting and killing 24-year-old Byron Dennis Jr. inside a Circle K on the north side of Marion on March 11, 2024.
In addition to murder, Guy pleaded guilty to robbery, unlawfully carrying of a handgun and theft.
Those charges were all dismissed at sentencing as well as one of the two murder charges.
Because there was not a plea deal, Guy had asked the judge to consider alternative sentencing, in hopes of getting less than the minimum 45-year prison sentence for murder because Guy is a juvenile.
A pre-sentence evaluation was completed before Tuesday’s hearing to determine what programs Guy might be suited for while incarcerated.
On Tuesday, July 15, Grant County Judge Mark Spitzer denied the motion for an alternative sentence, sentencing Guy to 50 years — 45 to be served in the Indiana Department of Correction and five years on probation.
The decision came after Spitzer heard arguments from the prosecutor, and statements from Dennis’ mother, Toni, testimony from some of Guy’s parental figures and from Guy himself.
Toni Dennis was the first to take the stand. She described Byron, her youngest son, as an all-around good man who knew no harm and stayed out of trouble.
“Byron was a really wonderful, wonderful kid,” Dennis said in the hearing Tuesday. “That was my one child I never had to worry about.”
Dennis said her son was on her way to come see her that fateful day in March. Byron made an in-the-moment decision to stop at a gas station to get a drink—a decision that unknowingly would be his last.
“What happened was senseless,” Dennis said. “He was minding his business, bothering nobody, friendly with everybody. Always carrying a smile.”
While giving her statement, Dennis said she has grown to forgive the person responsible for killing her son and spoke directly to Guy.
“Zaiden, honey, I don’t hate you,” she said. “I have no hard feelings toward you whatsoever. I was angry at first but that has subsided.”
She also told the boy she hopes he grows a connection with God and spends his time in prison begging him for forgiveness.
“I hope you learn a valuable lesson in all of this,” she said. “Them hard nights in that cell, the first person you’re going to call on is God.”
Several people also took the stand to ask the judge to give Guy a shorter sentence, including someone characterized as a grandfather figure to Guy, an uncle and a former school principal.
Then Guy spoke to the judge and to Toni Dennis.
“I’m very sorry for what I’ve done and the damage I’ve caused,” Guy said. “I want you to know I made the biggest mistake of my life taking an innocent life away from her and a good family.”
Zaiden Guy was walked out of the courtroom the same way he was throughout the hearing: in handcuffs.
He was being held at the Kinsey Youth Center in Kokomo. The judge said Guy will stay in the juvenile detention system until he is 18 years old, which is when he will be moved to a state prison.
He has 30 days to file an appeal to the sentencing.
Robbery gone bad
As 13News previously reported, just before 8 p.m. March 11, Marion Police Department officers and Grant County Sheriff’s Department deputies were called to the Circle K in the 900 block of East Bradford Street, near Pennsylvania Street, for a report of a person shot.
Officers found 24-year-old Byron Otis Dennis Jr., of Anderson, lying on the ground at the entrance to the store with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was taken to Marion Health hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Police told 13News they don’t believe Byron and Guy knew each other.
Officers identified Zaiden Guy as the suspect after reviewing in-store video surveillance of the incident. Guy was located at a home in 500 block of East Highland Avenue, near East Charles and North Meridian streets, and taken into custody after officers called over a loudspeaker for the occupants to come out of the house.
On April 5, 2024, Grant County prosecutors formally charged Zaiden Guy on the following:
Two counts of murder
One count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury
One count of unlawful carrying of a handgun
One count of theft
One count of criminal recklessnessHe had his initial hearing on May 14, 2024.
Zaiden Guy turned 13 about a month before the shooting. His mother spoke to 13News after the hearing, and she said he’s still just a boy and not a monster.
“This child does not play with guns,” Tomika said at the time. “I do not have guns in my home. My child does not be in the streets. He can be disrespectful, but that’s with any child. But no, he’s not this type of child.”
Zaiden Guy was one of just two 13-year-olds waived to adult court in Indiana – the youngest age of those tried as adults – during the 2024 Fiscal Year, according to data from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
