Man gets 18 years in Moraine fatal beating

A judge has sentenced a man charged in a fatal beating to 18 years to life in prison.

Shawn Kortz, 40, was convicted in the murder of his former neighbor, Michael Hollon, in 2010. Kortz and Hollon lived on Wienburg Avenue in Moraine.

He was sentenced Wednesday to a 15-years to life sentence for murder and 3 years for having guns under disability. The sentences are consecutive.

During Kortz'  trial it was said that he didn't remember the attack. 

"I'm sorry for everything that happened that day and that night," Kortz said to the victim's family in court Wednesday. "I wish I could remember.  I really do wish that I wasn't a drug addict and that I wasn't an alcoholic, and then none of this would have ever taken place."

Family members rallied for the maximum sentence against Kortz.

"Michael meant so much to me and we had so many plans. My life and my heart has a gigantic hole and a void," said a woman who identified herself as Hollon's sister.

During the trial, Kortz told the jury he remembered showing his “man cave” to Hollon, whom he called a friend and neighbor. He also remembered staring at himself in the bathroom mirror, shirtless and wondering why he was covered with blood.

What he doesn’t remember, Kortz testified, was what happened to Hollon, whose battered body was found in the lower level den of Kortz’s Moraine home.

“I thought he’d passed out,” Kortz said. “I rolled him over that’s when I saw his face. I freaked out at that point.”

Kortz , 40, was on trial in January before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Barbara P. Gorman. He was charged with murder, tampering with evidence and carrying a firearm while a fugitive from justice. He killed Hollon, 48, on Sept. 19, 2010, then fled to Kentucky, where he led authorities on a chase until he was captured near Georgetown.