Young sentenced to 8 years in shooting case

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

A 60-year-old Putnam County man was sentenced Tuesday afternoon to eight years in prison for a 2016 shooting that permanently disabled a Greencastle man.

Robert Eugene Young, of rural Cloverdale, was convicted last month of aggravated battery causing bodily injury, a Level 3 felony, in the shooting of Jeffrey D. Perkins, 59, Greencastle, in an equipment ownership and property dispute occurring on Young's land four miles south of U.S. 40 along State Road 243.

Following a nearly two-hour sentencing hearing Tuesday, Putnam Circuit Court Judge Matt Headley ordered Young to serve seven years in the Indiana Department of Correction with an eighth year to be served on probation.

Young was ordered to report to the Putnam County Jail by 4 p.m. Tuesday, which he did.

On May 17, a Putnam County jury of four women and eight men deliberated nearly five hours before returning a guilty verdict on aggravated battery causing bodily injury, one of two criminal charges against Young in a March 25, 2016 shooting incident.

Robert E. Young

Meanwhile, a hung jury was declared on the Level 2 felony count of attempted voluntary manslaughter. Reports indicated there were two jury holdouts on the attempted voluntary manslaughter charge, resulting in a reported 10-2 vote for conviction. A unanimous vote is required for conviction.

Just prior to pronouncing sentence on Tuesday, Judge Headley announced he was giving the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office 60 days to decide whether or not to proceed with retrying the additional charge that resulted in the hung jury.

"We'll talk to the family about it and see what they want to do," Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter told the Banner Graphic.

Meanwhile, the defense and attorney Jeff Boggess, will have 30 days to appeal Young's sentence.

During final arguments, Bookwalter suggested a nine-year sentence was appropriate for Young, while Boggess urged Headley to consider a two-year sentence with all time suspended.

Under the new Indiana criminal code, Young will have to serve 5.25 years (75 percent) of the seven-year DOC commitment.

The court Tuesday heard from Young for the first time. The defendant did not testify on his own behalf during the three-day trial last month. Dressed in short-sleeve brown checked shirt and khaki cargo pants, Young spoke briefly from his seat at the defense table Tuesday afternoon.

"My heart is very sad about this mess that's happened here," he said. "I'd like to see Jeff and tell him I'm sorry.

"This is a tragedy and some of this is very unfair," he added, noting that Perkins knew he was "a sick person" and questioning, "why did he act like he did?"

Young turned several times to look back at the audience, especially the Perkins family.

"I'm so sorry this happened to Jeff but I didn't want him there (on his property) no more," Young said, referencing the supposed poor roofing job Perkins had done on his house.

Perkins, who suffered a serious head injury as a result of the shooting, remains in a nursing care facility at Avon. Prior to the shooting incident, the local contractor had done roofing work at the Young residence that became the focal point of the dispute between the two men.

"I'm very sorry for what happened to Jeff. I'm very sorry for your emotions," Young continued before adding "I just hope you have a good conscience, judge."

Judge Headley ruled that the aggravating and mitigating circumstances presented in the case were "about equal."

Speaking directly to Young, Headley told him, "You were never threatened by him, sir," adding that Perkins never displayed a weapon and stayed in his truck.

"In no way was your life threatened," the judge added, telling Young he also had not seen him "really show any remorse about this whole thing until today. Remorse and culpability are not the same thing."

The judge indicated Young had never voiced concern for Perkins while paramedics worked on him at the scene, suggesting normal behavior would at least have been to ask if he were OK or what was happening to him.

The sentencing hearing saw the health of both victim and defendant addressed.

Bookwalter quoted from a doctor's letter to note that Perkins has seen his life expectancy significantly reduced, has lost the ability to smell and taste and can only maintain limited communication.

The permanent brain injury has effectively ended his life, Bookwalter said in suggesting that the "harm suffered by the victim is significantly greater than the elements of the offense."

Meanwhile, Young suffers from a number of medical problems, including cancer that resulted in a large section of his colon being removed and providing for multiple medications administered at prescribed intervals. His "special bathroom needs," a restricted diet and medication issues made it difficult for the Putnam County Jail to tend to his needs, Boggess said.

"It doesn't seem likely the DOC can do any better," the defense attorney said, adding that imprisonment will result in a hardship.

Young reportedly lost 30 pounds while in jail for 2-1/2 months.

"A lot of people who are incarcerated are not in good health," Chief Adult Probation Officer Teresa Parrish said in response to Boggess' questioning.

Daughter Jean Murphy noted that her father's inability to read compounded the problem at the jail as he could not properly fill out commissary paperwork for his meals.

"I honestly fear," Murphy said, "that if my dad goes to jail, he's not going to come home."

During the trial, Prosecutor Bookwalter told the jury evidence would show Young intentionally fired the 9mm handgun that wounded Perkins. Meanwhile, defense attorney Boggess countered that his client intended to fire a warning shot straight up in the air but was bumped by Perkins' truck, altering the trajectory of the bullet and sending it through the rear window and into the victim's head.

Boggess told the jury Perkins knew he was "coming on Young's property uninvited at a time (about 3:45 p.m.) when most people are not home" and was "possibly trying to kill my client with his truck."

"My client was essentially doing the right thing," Boggess said Tuesday, "up until the gun went off."

Perkins was supposedly attempting to retrieve a disputed set of scaffolding that had been on Young's property for more than three years.

The prosecutor said at the trial that Young "acted out of anger, not fear" and put himself in harm's way despite never being physically or verbally threatened by Perkins.

Immediately after the shooting, Bookwalter said, Young was captured on a State Police dashboard camera saying, "I meant to kill that stupid SOB."

"You get the real truth right there," the prosecutor said during closing arguments at the trial.

Boggess Tuesday called six witnesses to testify for Young, including his wife Shirley and their two children. The prosecution, meanwhile, called no witnesses during the sentencing hearing.

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