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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Ind. Courts - "Man on trial in Clark for 1980 rapes"
The ILB in July and August posted several entries (most recent here) on a third (which ended in a hung jury), and possible fourth, trial in the South Bend Osco triple murder from 1990.
Today, the Louisville Courier Journal has a story by Ben Zion Hershberg headlined "Man on trial in Clark for 1980 rapes." It begins:
A man went on trial yesterday in Clark County, accused of raping two women in Evansville more than 25 years ago.Thomas N. Schiro was never tried in connection with the 1980 rapes because he was sentenced to death in 1981 after being convicted of raping and bludgeoning to death 28-year-old Laura Luebbehusen in February 1981, when he was 20.
But the Indiana Supreme Court overturned Schiro's death sentence in 1996, ruling that the trial judge had imposed the death penalty after the jury had rejected it.
The Supreme Court ruled Schiro should serve 60 years in prison, and because an Indiana prisoner can get a sentence cut in half for good behavior in prison, Schiro could be released in February.
After Schiro's death sentence was overturned, Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stanley Levco said he decided to prosecute him in the 1980 cases. There is no statute of limitations on rape in Indiana.
"I wanted him accountable. I didn't want him out on the street," Levco said.
The trial is being conducted by Vanderburgh Circuit Court Judge Carl Heldt in Clark Circuit Court, where it was moved because of publicity in Vanderburgh County.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 29, 2006 08:42 AM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions