Nathan Jones stood in front of his victim in a Coeur d’Alene courtroom in jailhouse pajamas Thursday and apologized. He was sorry for what happened that February evening, sorry he was on drugs, sorry he didn’t do more to try to help Terrel Fruechtl, who was robbed, pistol whipped and left bleeding with a broken nose on a cold, snowy hillside wearing only his underwear.

“There was a lot of things I wanted to do but didn’t do,” he said. Jones wanted to assist a helpless Fruechtl, who did not resist the beating and didn’t do anything to incite it, attorneys said.

“I’ve never done anything like that before,” said Jones, 20, a former youth pastor who was among three people charged with battery with intent to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. The felonies carry a maximum sentence of 20 years and life in prison, respectively.

First District Judge John Mitchell sentenced Jones to 15 years in prison, but retained jurisdiction for up to a year. That allows Jones to participate in a prison rehab program called a rider that measures an inmate’s amenability for probation.

Mitchell said he doubted he could put Jones on probation unless he performed exceptionally well on the rider.

That’s where the judge’s generosity stopped.

Jordan Avery Erickson, 20, who along with Jones was found guilty last spring of both felonies, also stood in front of Fruechtl and his family and apologized for stealing the victim’s clothes and $7 cash, leaving him almost naked on a frozen hillside.

His long beard newly clipped, his orange jail pajamas limp, Erickson’s voice faded after an abbreviated expression of regret and then he sat down, to peer at the judge through large glasses.

Unlike Jones, however, Erickson had denied his crimes to a presentence investigator, Mitchell said, and despite being found guilty by a jury, and having two witnesses testify to his involvement, Erickson repeatedly denied knowledge of the incident, maintaining his innocence until the 11th hour.

His reticence wasn’t lost on the judge.

Mitchell sentenced Erickson to five years in prison, with an underlying 15-year sentence.

“Your case is not a close call,” Mitchell said. “From all the evidence I have, your involvement was more egregious … You apologized today and still don’t know what for.”

The two men, and another co-conspirator, 19-year-old Nolan Mullen-Huber, planned to beat and rob Fruechtl, who had a relationship with Mullen-Huber’s girlfriend. They enlisted two teenage girls to lure the victim to Potlatch Hill in the dark Feb. 26 where the incident occurred.

“I felt I was in danger for my life,” Fruechtl told police.

The men were indicted by a grand jury after a roommate reported to police overhearing them talk about the incident.

Mullen-Huber, whom prosecutors called the front man of the group, pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain and will be sentenced today.

He is in jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.