A convicted murderer and child molester has been found not guilty of failure to register as a sex offender. The Northwest Indiana Times says Richard Dobeski was cleared of the charges last week by Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall following a bench trial. The case had been moved out of LaPorte County.
A Knox man was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday morning on two counts of child molesting as a Class A felony.
Jerry Leonard, 37, was sentenced on one count of child molesting to 30 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with 10 years of the sentence suspended. On the second count of child molesting, Leonard was sentenced to 30 years in the DOC with 10 years of the sentence suspended. The sentences will run concurrently, or at the same time. After he serves his time in the DOC, he will serve his suspended sentence on probation.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a conviction from Starke Circuit Court. Last June a jury found Earl Beem of Hamlet guilty of possession of methamphetamine and maintaining a common nuisance, both of which are Level 6 felonies, and of possession of paraphernalia. Continue reading
A state appellate court has upheld the maximum murder sentence for a man accused of killing his estranged wife at his rural California Township home. A jury in Starke Circuit Court deliberated for less than two hours in July of 2015 before finding Gary Chavez guilty of murder. Continue reading
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a sentence from Starke Circuit Court. A jury found Steven A. Garland guilty of strangulation as a Level 6 felony in September of 2015, and Starke Circuit Judge Kim Hall sentenced him to 30 months in prison. Continue reading
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling from Starke Circuit Court involving a child molestation charge. Continue reading
A state appellate court weighs in on a conviction and sentence in Starke Circuit Court. A jury found Donald Frazier guilty of a felony offense of operating while intoxicated with a prior conviction and misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia. The charges stem from an Oct. 31, 2013 traffic stop and arrest in Hamlet. Continue reading
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a Knox man’s conviction on a drug charge from 2013. A jury found Alfred Higdon guilty of possession of methamphetamine as a Class D felony. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Higdon’s appeal claims the trial court erroneously admitted evidence that was the product of an illegal search by law enforcement. Continue reading
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a sentence handed down in Starke Circuit Court in 2014. Gregory Schweisthal was sentenced to 64 months in prison on a felony invasion of privacy and a misdemeanor domestic battery charge. Continue reading
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a sentence imposed against Dennis Wireman in Starke Circuit Court.
Wireman was convicted in 2013 on three counts of illegal possession of a controlled substance as a Class D felony in two separate cases, plus a Class D felony charges of illegal possession of a syringe and operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction.
A ruling has been issued by the Indiana Supreme Court in the case of Robert Corbin.
In a decision issued Tuesday afternoon, the justices unanimously reversed the Indiana Court of Appeals’ decision to dismiss the case against Corbin. The case has been set for a hearing before Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall on Friday, Oct. 10 at 10 a.m. CT.
The Attorney General will be representing Starke County in an oral argument to be heard in the Indiana Supreme Court Thursday at 9:45 a.m. ET.
This hearing surrounds the case of Robert Corbin.
Corbin was arrested in April 2012 on two charges of Attempted Child Seduction, as Class D felonies. It was alleged that a then-sixteen-year-old student had been receiving inappropriate Facebook messages from Corbin who at the time was a teacher at the Knox Community School Corporation.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a 20 year prison sentence for Anthony Eugene Fields.
A Marshall County jury found Fields guilty of several methamphetamine-related charges and Judge Robert O. Bowen sentenced Fields to the maximum sentence allowed under the law. A 20-year sentence was handed down on the charge of Manufacturing Methamphetamine while the sentences for several Class D felonies ran concurrently to the manufacturing methamphetamine charge.
The Indiana Court of Appeals released a decision regarding the charges filed against former Knox High School teacher Robert “Ryan” Corbin.
A hearing was held in September in the Indiana Court of Appeals where oral arguments were heard in the case of Robert “Ryan” Corbin who was accused of two counts of Attempted Child Seduction. It was Corbin’s attempt to overturn Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall’s denial of a motion to dismiss the charges of Attempted Child Seduction against him.
Bradley appealed his conviction for Attempted Deviate Conduct as a Class B felony. He questioned whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain his conviction and whether his sentence was inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and its character.
Hite appealed two convictions for Resisting Law Enforcement as Class B felonies, claiming that the state did not provide sufficient evidence to support his convictions, and that his sentence was inappropriate given the nature of the offenses and his character.
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that a trial should be held for a former LaPorte High School volleyball coach on charges that she failed to report a relationship between a 15-year-old player and a 48-year-old coach.
MaryBeth Lebo faces two misdemeanor charges of Failing to Report Child Abuse or Neglect, and the Court of Appeals ruled that a trial should be held to determine whether Lebo knowingly and intentionally failed to inform the relationship between the girl and coach Robert Ashcroft, who had been sentenced to 21 years in prison for sexual misconduct and child seduction last year.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction and sentence of Freddie Boggess.
In November 2011, a Starke County jury found Boggess guilty on charges of Dealing in Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Chemical Reagents or Precursors with Intent to Manufacture, Driving While Suspended, False Informing, and Habitual Traffic Violator. He was sentenced to 17 years for Dealing in Methamphetamine, three years for Possession of Precursors With Intent to Manufacture, one year for Driving While Suspended and six months for False Informing. All sentences were to be served concurrently. The incident occurred in Starke County in July 2011.
