A man found guilty of child molesting has had his convictions affirmed by the Indiana Court of Appeals. Back in February, Jerry Leonard was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court to concurrent terms of 30 years in the Indiana Department of Correction with 10 years suspended, for two Class A felony counts of child molesting. Leonard appealed the convictions, arguing that his confession to police was not made voluntarily and “that the trial court abused its discretion” by admitting video of the police interview as evidence.
In its decision, the Court of Appeals says that the State Police detective didn’t offer “any concrete promises of leniency in prosecution or sentencing” and the detective’s comments that he wanted to help Leonard and the victim did not make the confession involuntary. The decision also notes that Leonard understood and waived his rights and behaved rationally during the interview.
The appellate court also rejected Leonard’s claim that there was insufficient evidence for one of the two counts of child molesting.
