Brian Young was sentenced in Pulaski County Superior Court Monday after pleading guilty in a plea agreement with the State to two Level 6 Felony counts of voting outside precinct residence. The sentence would be at the discretion of the court.
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A LaPorte man was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison on child pornography-related charges.
A Culver man was sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a charge of Reckless Homicide.
54-year-old Jon McFarland was charged following a Grand Jury indictment from December of 2014. It alleges that on October 12th of that year, McFarland was a driver in an automobile crash that occurred at the intersection of U.S. 31 and State Road 10 near Argos.
A LaPorte man has been sentenced in federal court.
42-year-old Adrian Williams was sentenced this week on charges stemming from an incident occurring in 2013. Law enforcement responded in September of that year to a building Williams owned in LaPorte County.
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More than a year after the incident, Jack Haut is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow. On July 22, Haut was found guilty of Reckless Homicide, a Class C felony after his truck struck the motorcycle of Tom White on July 2, 2010, killing him in the crash. The crash occurred on U.S. 35.
In the state’s argument, Bourff said that Haut was driving recklessly, forcing drivers off the road, speeding, and driving in the opposite lane of traffic. After Haut passed two vehicles on U.S. 35, he pulled back into his normal lane of travel, but veered back to the opposite lane where he struck the motorcycle of Tom White. No brake lights were seen by witnesses, and there was no testimony that would indicate why Haut did not recall anything from the accident or afterward.
For the defense, they said that this was a tragic accident. Haut’s speed could not be determined by the state crash reconstructionist, and the coroner said that the injuries were consistent with highway speeds. They argued that the medication in Haut’s system, including Dilata, Oxycodone, and Xanax, were not abused, but were in fact within the therapeutic range prescribed by a physician. No alcohol was involved in the accident.
Haut will be sentenced tomorrow in the Starke Circuit Court at 11 a.m.
Kimberly Hitchens received her sentence Tuesday morning in the Starke Circuit Court. Hitchens plead guilty to one count of Assisting a Criminal, a Class D Felony, which carries a sentence between 6 months to 3 years in the Department of Corrections.
Judge Kim Hall noted a few aggravating factors, as well as mitigating factors, in the case. Judge Hall stated that while Hitchens was called as a witness, she lied under oath, thereby committing perjury in the courtroom. He also noted that since Hitchens admitted there was a conspiracy, and that three others had been convicted of conspiracy to commit armed robbery from the same incident, Hitchens’ criminal activity far exceeded the crime for which she has been convicted. Judge Hall also mentioned two mitigating factors: she had previously lived free of crime for a reasonable amount of time, and she did admit to the conspiracy.
