Taplin found not guilty in machete attack

Stephen Taplin

The Florida man who attacked another man with a machete early this year was found not guilty of four felony counts in Putnam Circuit Court this week.

A jury found 40-year-old Stephen A. Taplin of Melbourne, Fla., not guilty of the charges of Level 3 felony aggravated battery posing substantial risk of death, Level 3 felony aggravated battery causing serious permanent disfigurement, Level 6 felony criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and Level 6 felony battery by means of a deadly weapon.

The charges were related to the Jan. 29 attack of 51-year-old Matthew Kuchler of Fillmore.

From his interview with police and into court proceedings, Taplin did not deny the attack on Kuchler, but insisted he was defending himself.

Jurors apparently found sufficient grounds for self defense, with no guilty findings on any of the four counts.

Taplin was represented in the case by attorney Todd Meyer of Lebanon, while Austin Malayer tried the case for the prosecution.

Taplin was apparently in Fillmore to visit the sister of a man he had known in Colorado Springs, Colo. While in Putnam County, he apparently ran out of fuel and money and had been staying in his van in her parking lot for several days.

While in Fillmore, he began to clash with Kuchler, who had been romantically linked to the woman.

Both men told police they feared for their lives and on the morning of the attack, Kuchler admitted to having thrown a drywall hammer at Taplin. A drywall hammer is a hammer on one side and a hatchet on the other.

Later, when the confrontation came to blows, Taplin pulled the machete.

Police found that he struck Kuchler first in the knee with the blade side of the machete and then slashed his right cheek with the “hook” side.

Taplin even told Det. Donnie Pettit of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, “I meant to hook his face.”

Following the confrontation, police were unable to locate Taplin until the following morning.