By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
NILES, MI – Two area men were sentenced to prison Monday after being convicted of first-degree murder by Berrien County Trial Court juries in late December and early March. Families of both victims spoke before the sentencings, telling the court how the murders had affected their lives.
Rease Pence, now 21, of Dowagiac, was convicted last December by a Berrien County Trial Court jury of first degree murder, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in connection with the May 12, 2022 murder of 14 year old Gavin Blankenship at the Arbor Trails apartment complex on North Fifth Street in Niles.
Blankenship’s sister, mother and aunt spoke before the sentencing. His sister was there at the time of the shooting said she continues to be traumatized by her brother’s death. “I hear the shots ringing in my head over and over,” she said. “I have been angry, said and terrified … Gavin will never be forgotten.”
His mother and aunt also talked about how the teen’s death has affected them. “Our family will be forever altered,” his aunt said. “He was walking in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was shot. Our society needs to wake up that joining a gang, stealing cars and killing people is not okay.”
His mother told Pence she hopes he lives forever in a prison cell thinking about all the horrible things he’s done. In addition to killing Blankenship, Pence was convicted in Indiana of killing two Niles women a month after the Blankenship murder. He is serving a 122 and a half year sentence for those murders.
Berrien County Trial Court Judge Gordon Hosbein sentenced Pence to 40 to 60 years in prison on the murder charge and fines and costs for the weapon charge, 18 months to five years on the stolen vehicle charge and two years in prison for the felony firearm charge. He must pay a total of $462 in fines and costs.
The felony firearm sentence is consecutive to the other charges and all four sentences are consecutive to the Indiana sentences.
Pence was not sentenced to life without parole as he was a juvenile at the time of the incident and subject to the U.S. Supreme Court Miller v. Alabama decision that ruled that a life in prison without parole sentence for juveniles is cruel and unusual punishment except in rare instances.
Judge Hosbein held a Miller hearing on the matter earlier this month and ruled Monday that there were mitigating factors in the case that kept him from allowing a life without parole sentence including Pence’s family background, his youth and his ability to be rehabilitated.
Pence was sentenced earlier in St. Joseph for incidents occurring last fall at the jail. He received concurrent terms of 19 months to five years and 16 months to two years for assault of a prison employee and resisting and obstructing police.
In the other case, Rene Lopez Alvarado, 34, of South Bend, was convicted by a Berrien County Trial Court jury in early March of first degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in connection with the murder of Courtney Hershberger on July 21, 2025 at her home in the Franklin Woods mobile home park in Niles Township.
Alvarado was sentenced to life in prison without parole on the first degree murder charge and a consecutive two year prison term on the felony firearm charge. He must pay $326 in fines and costs and has credit for 280 days already served on the felony firearm charge.
Hershberger’s sister and mother spoke before sentencing. Her sister said the murder has ruined her whole life and hoped Alvarado lived a long life to think about his actions.
Her mother said she never thought something like would happen to her daughter and said she wished that Michigan has the death penalty. “I will never see her smile again or hear her voice or be able to hug her, I cry almost every day,” she said. “I wish there was a death penalty, he deserves it. Maybe one day I can forgive him, but don’t hold your breath.”
Berrien County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Cortney O’Malley-Septoski said Alvarado failed to see Hershberger as a human being and treated her like trash.
As he had with the Pence case, Judge Hosbein offered his condolences to Hershberger’s family. “I’m sorry for your loss, but there’s just nothing I’ll ever be able to do to repair what has been done or to bring your loved one back,” he said. “I hope this is a stepping stone to your healing and will give you closure.”