Indiana Court of Appeals Affirms Sentence for John Brooke

Posted on Author WKVI
John Brooke

The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld the sentence that was handed to John Brooke in Starke Circuit Court by Judge Kim Hall. Brooke had appealed the sentence challenging his conspiracy conviction and his sentence.

Brooke was sentenced to 22 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections after a jury found him guilty on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery, Intimidation, Possession/Manufacturing of a Destructive Device (a Molotov Cocktail), Possession of a Destructive Device, Resisting Law Enforcement, Unlawful Use of Body Armor and Assisting a Criminal. The charges stemmed from an incident at Bass Lake on February 15th, 2010, where Brooke was convicted of harboring a fugitive, Michael Drogosz, and they developed a plan to kill police officers and rob banks in Starke County. Several other people were also involved in the plan.

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Court of Appeals Upholds 110-Year Sentence for Ernest Wireman

Posted on Author WKVI
Ernest Wireman

The Court of Appeals has rejected Ernest Wireman’s cumulative error claim following a nine-day trial in June of 2010 in Starke Circuit Court. Wireman was accused of brutally murdering his wife, Mary, before burning down the trailer with her inside and shooting her son, Jeremy, who survived the attack. Wireman pleaded insanity to the charges against him, but was found guilty but mentally ill of Murder, Attempted Murder as a Class A felony, and Arson as a Class B felony and ordered to serve 110 years in the Department of Corrections.

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Indiana Court of Appeals Upholds Conviction of Gerald Broude

Posted on Author WKVI
Gerald Broude
Gerald Broude

The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of Gerald Broude. Broude was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court in December of 2010 to 50 years on each of the three Class A Felony counts of Child Molestation, and eight years on one count of Child Molestation, a Class C Felony. The sentences were ordered to be run concurrently to total 50 years.

A jury found him guilty on four counts of Child Molestation after deliberating less than 30 minutes on December 1st.

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Ritenour, Jr. Sentence Upheld by Indiana Court of Appeals

Posted on Author WKVI
James Ritenour, Jr.

James Ritenour, Jr. recently appealed his Starke Circuit Court conviction of eight-years for Attempted Battery, a Class C Felony to the Indiana Court of Appeals. Ritenour, Jr. questioned whether sufficient evidence supports his conviction, and he also claims his eight-year sentence for the charge is inappropriate in light of his character and the nature of the offense. Ritenour, Jr. was sentenced to the maximum sentence of eight years, and he requests that his sentence be revised down to the usual term of four years. He also argues that the lack of ballistics tests and conflicting testimony would require a reweighing of the evidence, but the State disagrees.

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