Buttery receives 35-year sentence
A Russellville man received a total prison sentence of 35 years Monday in Putnam County Circuit Court.
On Jan. 15 a jury convicted Chad Buttery, 28, of Class B felony dealing in methamphetamine and Class C felonies possession of anhydrous ammonia and possession of chemical reagents. In addition, the jury found that Buttery should be deemed a habitual offender.
Judge Matthew Headley sentenced Buttery to two six-year sentences with four years executed and two years probation on each of the Class C felonies, which will run concurrently to each other and consecutively with a 14-year, all-executed sentence for the Class B felony. Headley then enhanced Buttery's sentence by 15 years for the habitual offender designation.
In court, Buttery confessed to having a meth addiction, but denied he had committed the crimes for which he was being sentenced.
"So you're still professing your innocence?" Deputy Prosecutor Jim Hanner asked.
A stone-faced Buttery replied in the affirmative.
"Yes, I am," he said.
Buttery was arrested on Oct. 3 after Greencastle Police Department Officer Chris Helmer stopped a vehicle Buttery was driving due to a non-working license plate light. According to court documents, that traffic stop yielded the discovery that Buttery was in possession of meth precursors used in meth production, and that "further investigation led to the discovery of fleeing suspects and live marijuana growth in a nearby residence."
When Helmer stopped the car, Buttery and another male subject took off on foot, court documents said. Helmer lost both men, but returned to the still-running vehicle, where he discovered what he believed to be the components of a rolling meth lab.
Buttery was located at the residence of his brother Frederick Buttery in the 1000 block of Avenue E.
Buttery and his court-appointed attorney James Recker argued that Buttery never said some of the things he was quoted as saying in a pre-sentence investigation report prepared by Putnam County Adult Probation officer Johninda Taylor.
The report stated that although Buttery has children was court-ordered to pay $62 per week in support, he has never made any payments. Buttery countered that he had "made a couple of payments."
Taylor also said in her report that Buttery had confessed to her that, between the time he was released from jail on his own recognizance in December and his jury trial in January, he used meth continuously. Buttery maintained he "had a chance to use, but turned it down." The report stated Buttery told Taylor he never wanted to quit using meth, which Buttery disputed.
"I told her that in the past I'd never had the willpower to quit," he said.
Taylor stood by her report.
"Everything I wrote in my report, he stated to me," she said.
Buttery said he had never been to drug rehabilitation before, but was interested in pursuing it.
Buttery's fiancée, Jamie Mitchell, took the stand and said she believed Buttery had a desire to kick his drug habit.
"He never had much going for him before," she said. "Now he feels like he has something to live for."
The pre-sentence investigation showed that, including juvenile cases, Buttery had been involved in 19 cases in the Putnam County Courts. Taylor said he had been sentenced to DOC time in the past, and had violated his probations numerous times. Buttery had also violated the terms of home detention in the past.
Buttery's criminal history includes convictions in Montgomery County for Class C felony conspiracy to commit burglary in January 2001 and Class D felony theft in December 2005. In both of those cases he violated the terms of his probation more than once and was sent to prison to serve suspended sentences. According to information at the Indiana Department of Corrections Web site, Buttery was last released from prison on July 25.