A local man has been sentenced to serve 21 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of three felonies in March.
Brown Circuit Court Judge Judith Stewart sentenced Rickey D. Haines, 39, to nine years for criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon, a Level 3 felony. Six years were added to that sentence because Haines also was found to be a habitual offender.
For being convicted of domestic battery and strangulation, Haines was sentenced to a total of five years. He received an additional one year for unlawful possession of a firearm by a domestic batterer.
A jury of eight men and four women found Haines guilty March 30. He was found not guilty of rape after the jury heard three days of testimony and deliberated for four hours.
He also was facing charges for an assault on the same woman in June 2015 — three counts of domestic battery, criminal recklessness, criminal mischief, invasion of privacy and unlawful possession of a firearm by a domestic batterer. He was out on bond in that case when the other attacks occurred in December 2015.
Haines is expected to plead guilty in that case on May 16.
In the case that went to trial, the victim told police that Haines attempted to drown her in the bathtub, beat her within earshot of two children and held her against her will at the home until the next morning when she called police.
Stewart said she considered Haines’ criminal history, including the prior felony domestic battery charge, as an aggravating circumstance. She also noted Haines’ prior probation violations.
Before he was sentenced, Haines’ public defender Courtney Jones asked the court to correct an error related to the habitual offender part of his sentence.
He was found to be a habitual offender for having three prior, unrelated felonies on his record. He was convicted of two felonies for driving while intoxicated in Johnson County in 2000 and 2002 and of felony domestic battery in 2010 in Bartholomew County.
The state said only one of the three felonies had to have occurred within the past 10 years for him to be considered a habitual offender.
But citing an Indiana Court of Appeals decision that was made in April, Jones argued that all three felonies must be within the last 10 years in order to be considered for the sentence enhancement.
Prosecutor Ted Adams argued that since that Court of Appeals ruling has not been certified, Haines’ case cannot rely upon it.
Stewart set a hearing on that issue for June 12.
Glen Koch, a lawyer from Martinsville, was appointed as Haines’ lawyer if he wishes to appeal his conviction.
Haines also faces three new misdemeanor charges related to this case. On April 21, he was charged with three counts of invasion of privacy. An affidavit detailing why he was charged was not available at press time.
