The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld on Wednesday Shawn Perry’s 20-year sentence for his July 2019 criminal confinement case involving his girlfriend, Deshonda Lewis.

However, in a 3-0 decision, Appeals Judge Leanna K. Weissmann ordered Judge Gina Jones to correct some of the paperwork.

Before Perry, now 47, of Gary, went to trial on a confinement case in February 2024, he was charged in her July 2022 death. The murder trial is scheduled for June.

Weissman rejected Perry’s arguments, saying there was enough evidence to convict on the confinement case.

She noted Jones incorrectly wrote she was merging two latter counts — pointing a firearm and intimidation — instead of vacating, or striking them out, to prevent a possible double jeopardy issue.

She also ordered Jones to correct a list of charges sent after Perry’s conviction.

Weissman noted prosecutors agreed with the corrections.

Perry can appeal. His earliest release date is in November 2035.

In the confinement case, Gary Police responded July 20, 2019, to the 2200 block of Ohio Street after someone called 911 twice to hang up.

When cops arrived, Lewis sat in the living room with Perry.

Lewis’ daughter corroborated her story. She told investigators Perry was arguing, yelling and pushing Lewis. When she went to the back bedroom to help her mother, who Perry slammed on a bed, he pulled a gun on her, too, the daughter said.

She ran out and hid in a closet with her siblings until police arrived.

About three years later, Gary Police responded at 9 p.m. July 23, 2022, to the 400 block of Jackson Street where Lewis, then 42, was found shot inside her parked Ford Escape, according to an affidavit. Bullet holes pierced the driver’s side window.

mcolias@post-trib.com