Judges reduce sentence

The Indiana Court of Appeals has reduced the sentence of a defendant who used brass knuckles to injure a couple and then struck a victim’s father with his car, finding the 11-year sentence was inappropriate in light of the offenses and the defendant’s character.

In Buck Gleason v. State of Indiana, No. 48A02-1106-CR-630, Buck Gleason appealed his convictions of and sentence for Class C felony battery with a deadly weapon; Class A misdemeanor battery resulting in bodily injury; Class D felony criminal recklessness while armed with a deadly weapon; and Class A misdemeanor failure to stop after an accident resulting in injury. Gleason went to the home of Amber Ball Kilgore and her fiancé, Mark Goodman, seeking money that Goodman’s former boss apparently owed Gleason. The couple testified they saw Gleason put on his hand what looked like brass knuckles before he struck Goodman in the back of the head. Gleason also hit Kilgore in the arm with the brass knuckles. When fleeing the home, Gleason’s car’s side-mirror struck Goodman’s father, knocking him down and injuring him.

The judges found sufficient evidence to support the convictions, but ordered that Gleason’s sentence be revised. While he has a criminal history, the judges found it was not “particularly egregious” and didn’t justify enhancing the Class D felony to the maximum of eight years. They ordered his sentence be revised to an aggregate term of six years.