The jury trial for a Denham man accused of killing his live-in girlfriend has been pushed back until spring. Pulaski Circuit Judge Michael Shurn set Paul Katschke’s proceeding for May 4. Continue reading
A Star City man who faces attempted murder and aggravated battery charges in connection with a Sunday incident plans to hire his own attorney. Kevin E. Holcomb, 45, appeared in Pulaski Circuit Court on Wednesday, Dec. 17 for an initial hearing. Continue reading
A Denham man accused of killing his live-in girlfriend is scheduled to go on trial in February. Paul Katschke is charged with murder in connection with the Aug. 11 death of Amber Renee Taylor, 34. Pulaski County Sheriff’s Deputies and first responders found her dead at the couple’s home after receiving a 911 call about a dead, 30-something-year-old woman. Continue reading
According to the police report filed into court documents, on Sept. 27 Winamac police arrested the pair after an officer identified a pick-up truck involved in a burglary incident. The officer reportedly located an air compressor in the back of the pick-up along with tools that were reported stolen.
Hartley pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state on a charge of Theft as a Class D felony. He was sentenced to 18 months in the Pulaski County Jail with all but 60 days of the sentence suspended. Those 60 days will be served in the Pulaski County Jail with good time served. Work release was granted, if applicable.
Greg Wireman was summoned to appear in court on a charge of Impersonating a Public Servant. The charge was filed May 31 in Pulaski County after Starke County officials recused themselves from the case.
A Winamac police officer who allegedly admitted to taking money from an evidence storage locker at the Winamac Police Department will have an initial hearing in Pulaski Circuit Court Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET.
Daymond Hartley, a Winamac officer on the night shift, allegedly admitted to Winamac Police Chief Michael Buchanan that he took $6,352 from the storage locker while working a shift during the last week of March. The money had been collected as evidence regarding a fatal accident involving Jamie Sheets of Winamac.
A 16-year sentence was handed down to a man in Pulaski Circuit Court after pleading guilty in a plea agreement with the state to two amended charges of Child Molesting, as a Class C Felony.
Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn sentenced Michael Mendez to eight years on both counts and those sentences will be served consecutively. He was credited with 266 days of time served.
Mendez will also serve eight years on probation following his release from the Indiana Department of Corrections. He will be bound to the terms of probation which include the Indiana Recommended Special Probation Conditions for Adult Sex Offenders and he will register as a sex offender. A no contact order with the victim remains in place throughout his probation. All other terms of standard probation rules apply.
A Knox man was sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court recently after pleading guilty to amended charges in a plea agreement with the State.
David Mattes, Sr. was charged with Stalking, a Class C Felony and Residential Entry, a Class D Felony after an August incident in which he allegedly entered a woman’s home in Pulaski County without permission.
In a hearing last week, Pulaski County Prosecutor Stacey Mrak moved to amend the second count, Residential Entry, to a charge of Trespass as a Class A Misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty to that charge. Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn sentenced Mattes to 12 months in the Pulaski County Jail with 11 months suspended and to be served on probation. He was also ordered to have no contact with the victim in this case.
Steven Decker was sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court on Monday after pleading guilty in a plea agreement with the state.
Decker pleaded guilty to two counts of Neglect of a Dependent as a Class D Felony. Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn sentenced Decker to two years in the Indiana Department of Corrections on each count, with one year suspended, which shall run concurrently. This sentence will run consecutively to another case in which he was sentenced prior to this case. One year may be served at the Cass/Pulaski Community Corrections Work Release Center, if he is accepted into the program. He will also serve one year on probation and was ordered to pay $100 in a Child Abuse Prevention Fee.
Marla Freeman was sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court this week after pleading guilty to possession charges in two separate cases.
Freeman pleaded guilty to Possession of a Controlled Substance as a Class D felony in the first case, and Possession of a Narcotic Drug as a Class D felony in the second case. She was sentenced to serve six months in the Department of Corrections for each case to run consecutively.
A North Judson man was sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court after pleading guilty to a an amended charge of Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury as a Class A Misdemeanor. The charge was originally filed as a Class C Felony. Continue reading
A Royal Center man has been sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court for his attempt to injure a Pulaski County police officer by throwing anhydrous ammonia at him.
Paul Burke was sentenced to 10 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to a charge of Attempted Aggravated Battery. Burke will serve six of those years on good time credit and serve four years on probation. He must also submit to alcohol and drug testing and complete substance abuse treatment. Additional charges of Disarming a Law Enforcement Officer as a Class C felony, Theft as a Class D felony, and two Class A misdemeanor charges of Resisting Law Enforcement and Illegal Storage and Transportation of Anhydrous Ammonia were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
A Medaryville man was sentenced on an amended charge of Stalking as a Class D Felony in Pulaski Circuit Court on Monday.
Matthew Sizemore pleaded guilty to the charge and Judge Michael Shurn sentenced Sizemore to 18 months in the Pulaski County Jail. Six months of the sentence shall be executed on home detention through the Cass/Pulaski Community Corrections Program as long as Sizemore is eligible for the program. Twelve months of the sentence will then be suspended. He was given credit for 103 days served. He was initially arrested on this charge in July.
As part of his sentence, Sizemore will need to complete an inpatient or outpatient evaluation and was recommended to seek treatment at the Duluth Model Domestic Violence Treatment as directed by probation. A no-contact order remains with the victim in this case. Another count of stalking was dismissed as part of the plea agreement with the state.
A Winamac man was sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court on two amended charges of Trafficking with an Inmate, a Class A Misdemeanor.
Charles A. Weaver of Winamac was arrested in February 2011 on a Class C Felony charge of Trafficking with an Inmate, but it was later amended to two misdemeanor counts. Weaver pleaded guilty to those charges in a plea agreement and Judge Michael Shurn sentenced him to one year incarceration on each count to be served consecutively.
A few technological upgrades may be in store for the Pulaski Circuit Court, as the county commissioners this week approved $1500 toward installing new phones in the courtroom, judge’s office, and his court administrator’s office.
Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn told the commissioners that he has no working line in his office as a result of the switch to digital phones, and he has no way to tell his administrator to pick up the phone besides yelling down the hall. Shurn said this is not the ideal way for a phone system to operate, so he requested permission and funding to purchase two phones and a digital phone card to be installed.
A San Pierre man pleaded guilty in Pulaski Circuit Court on Friday in a plea agreement to two amended charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance, a Class D Felony, and Public Intoxication as a Class B Misdemeanor.
Craig Madsen was arrested March 1 after Pulaski County police found him to be intoxicated and in possession of prescription medication while at a Winamac boys basketball sectional tournament. He was reportedly harassing students at the time police were called to the school. When police searched him, he had 78 pills in his possession. The state originally filed a charge of Dealing a Controlled Substance, but it was amended to a possession charge.
A wrongful death suit has been vacated in Pulaski Circuit Court.
Court documents show that Barbara Gilden of Medaryville and the family of a minor who died as a result of the ingestion of medication prescribed to Gilden and provided to the minor by her grandson have come to an agreement. As a result, the jury trial set for September 18 has been vacated.
The family alleged that Gilden was negligent in properly storing her medication, allowing the narcotics to be accessible to minors at her residence, despite having previously been notified that the drugs had been obtained by minors in previous situations, and she failed to supervise minors in her residence. The family was seeking reasonable compensatory damages, costs and interest and just and proper relief.
A plea hearing has been set in Pulaski Circuit Court for Nov. 7 for a former Grovertown resident.
Avery Mullins, who now lists Winamac as his residence, was arrested in May 2011 after Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department officers found Mullins and another suspect in the driveway of a residence whose owner was no longer there. Officers found they had active arrest warrants and took them into custody.
A Medaryville man was sentenced after pleading guilty to a Class B Felony charge of Dealing in Methamphetamine.
Jamie R. Elkins pleaded guilty to the charge in a plea agreement with the state in Pulaski Circuit Court. As part of that agreement, charges of Possession of Methamphetamine, Chemical Reagents and Marijuana were dropped, along with a felony charge of Unlawful Possession or Use of a Legend Drug.
