![]() ![]() The girls left the scene and went to eat breakfast. After Rippey poured gasoline on the victim and they set her on fire, Appellant returned to the body to pour the remaining gasoline on it. Rippey suggested a good location in the country for burning the body and they drove there. They decided to dispose of the victim's body by burning it, apparently unaware of the fact that she was still alive. The two girls returned to Tackett's house to pick up Rippey and Lawrence. Appellant and Tackett drove around most of the night, stopping so that Tackett could beat the victim with a tire iron. There is evidence that when the victim began screaming Tackett took a small knife and cut the victim again. Tackett choked and stabbed the victim, then locked her in the car's trunk. Appellant punched the victim in the stomach and kneed her in the mouth. The girls went to Tackett's house, where Appellant and Tackett battered the victim. While at the house, the group teased and scared the victim, but she was essentially unharmed when they left this house. Then the girls took the victim to an abandoned house in Madison, Indiana. Shortly after the victim entered the car, Appellant pulled the victim's head back and put a knife to her throat in order to scare her. The victim had been dating Amanda Heavrin, Appellant's "girlfriend." Appellant intended to frighten the victim so that she would have no further contact with Amanda. On January 10, 1992, Appellant, Lauri Tackett, Hope Rippey, and Toni Lawrence picked up Shanda Renee Sharer, the twelve-year-old victim, at her father's home in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The sentencing judge concluded that the arson and murder convictions merged and sentenced *977 Appellant to the maximum sentences available for murder, sixty (60) years, and criminal confinement, twenty (20) years, and ordered the sentences served concurrently, in accordance with the prosecutor's recommendation.Īppellant presents three issues for review:ġ) whether the trial court erred in failing to consider mitigating factors that were clearly supported by the record Ģ) whether the trial court considered improper aggravating factors andģ) whether it was error to allow more than one (1) witness to provide "victim impact" information. The plea agreement permitted a contested sentencing hearing where the State retained the right to pursue the maximum sentence available. Loveless pled guilty to murder, criminal confinement, and arson. ![]() In accordance with a plea agreement, Appellant Melinda D. This is a direct appeal of a sentence from the Jefferson Circuit Court. MacAbee, Johnson & Gray, Franklin, for appellant. ![]()
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