Court denies Vester's sentence modification

Saturday, June 8, 2013

The Putnam Circuit Court has denied the petition for sentence modification filed by a former North Putnam High School interim Spanish teacher.

Citing the victim's father's testimony in his decision, Judge Matthew Headley issued his order on Nicholas Vester's petition to modify sentence.

"Comes now the court, upon review of the testimony and argument, now denies defendant's petition to modify sentence," Headley wrote in his Friday decision. "Court incorporates the victim's father (name omitted) testimony as reasons why a modification shall be denied."

The father had strong words in response to Vester's testimony about the harshness of incarceration.

"I understand he's had an unpleasant experience in jail," the father said. "Forgive me, but isn't that supposed to be the effect of prison?"

Vester, 26, of Lafayette, was convicted of Class D felony child seduction in February following an early 2012 scandal involving three former NPHS staff members and the same teenage boy.

The other two former staffers received lesser sentences, as their involvement with the boy -- including kissing and fondling -- was not considered as serious.

Vester's involvement, however, included sex acts for which he either escorted or met the boy off of school grounds. Prosecutor Timothy Bookwalter emphasized this point both in court Thursday and again on Friday following Headley's decision.

"Of the three, this guy was the worst," Bookwalter told the Banner Graphic. "He engaged in sex acts with the victim. He left the school, went out in the country and then did it in Lafayette too."

For this, Vester received the longest sentence, two years, with nine months executed at the Department of Correction and another three months on Community Corrections.

With Indiana Good Time Credit, Vester is scheduled to be released on June 24, making Thursday's arguments over a difference of less than three weeks.

"He got the most severe sentence, and I think the judge made the right decision here," Bookwalter said.

Testifying about the isolation and violence of prison, Vester and attorney Darrell Felling requested his immediate release into the Tippecanoe County Community Corrections program, so that the defendant could proceed to the house arrest portion of his sentence.

Headley, however, appears to have given more weight to the father's impassioned testimony about his family's ongoing struggles in the aftermath of the incidents.

"This is something we are living with for life," the father said. "We don't get a modification. I can't take this away from my son.

"To me, the only thing more egregious than the acts committed would be for this court to grant this modification," he added later.