Court Of Appeals Tosses Part Of Luke's Conviction; Tormentor Could Get Out Sooner

By Mike Perleberg The Indiana Court of Appeals has overturned Billy Luke's 2014 Stalking conviction in Dearborn County. File photo. (Dillsboro, Ind.) - A Dillsboro man sent to prison for terrorizing employees of a pharmacy could be out of prison sooner after an Indiana Court of Appeals ruling. Billy Luke was sentenced in September of 2014 to 10 years in prison by Dearborn Circuit Court Judge James D. Humphrey after a jury convicted him of Stalking (class C felony) and Criminal Mischief (class A misdemeanor). The sentence was on top of a four-year sentence he received from Dearborn Superior Court II Judge Sally McLaughlin following a July 2014 jury trial in which he was convicted on three counts of Invasion of Privacy (class D felony). Luke, now 30, appealed his convictions with representation from Lawrenceburg attorney Leanna Weissmann. In an opinion issued Wednesday, the Court of Appeals upheld Luke’s Invasion of Privacy convictions, but vacated the Stalking conviction. “I respectfully disagree with the Court of Appeal’s decision,” said Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Aaron Negagnard, who tried the case against Luke. “We are asking the Attorney General to seek transfer to the Indiana Supreme Court.” The appeal can only be sought by the Indiana Attorney General’s office, not the local prosecutor. If the State appeals, Luke will remain in jail until the Supreme Court either decides to not accept transfer of the case or overturns the appellate court decision. If there is no appeal or it is not successful, Luke could be out of jail as soon as August 2018 instead of February 2022. READ THE INDIANA COURT OF APPEALS OPINION HERE (PDF). Luke’s trouble with the law began in 2012, when he was convicted of Public Indecency for exposing himself to employees at the drug store just across a small alley from the Dillsboro home where he lived with his grandmother. Despite a court order, Luke repeatedly harassed the victims and made threats against Dillsboro Police. He shot marbles through the windows of the drug store and the Dillsboro Police Department. He was recorded attempting to convince an ex-jailmate to further harass the victims by placing a condom full of used ammunition on their doorstep. He also wrote a letter in which he claimed somebody wanted to “put a .308 through” a Dillsboro police officer’s vest. At the time of Luke's sentencing in his court, Judge Humphrey said of Luke: "The Court finds it most disturbing that he seems to find pleasure in the pain which he is causing others." Luke appealed his 2014 convictions based on seven issues which the Court of Appeals consolidated into five issues. In the new 40-page opinion penned by Judge Elaine B. Brown, the appellate court agreed with Luke’s first issue that Stalking charge violated double jeopardy principles. “Luke’s convictions for stalking and invasion of privacy constituted the ‘same offense’ for double jeopardy purposes, and the facts presented in prosecuting the invasion of privacy charges in Cause No. 11 were also presented when the State prosecuted Luke for stalking in Cause No. 19,” Brown wrote. The Court of Appeals has remanded the case to Dearborn Circuit Court for resentencing without the Stalking conviction, pending a possible appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court. In other points of contention raised in Luke’s appeal, the appellate court decided that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of other acts committed by Luke. The judges also agreed that there remains sufficient evidence to uphold the Invasion of Privacy conviction, that Judge McLaughlin did not abuse discretion in instructing the jury, and McLaughlin has sufficient evidence to revoke Luke’s probation from his 2012 conviction. One judge on the appellate panel, Robert J. Altice, wrote a separate three-page opinion in which he stated that his fellow judges relied on the wrong state statute in reversing Luke’s Stalking conviction. He said the circumstances of this case would likely fall under another section of the Indiana Code. “Statutes aside,” Altice wrote, “I think it suffices to say that the subsequent conviction for stalking violated principles of double jeopardy and should be vacated.” RELATED STORIES: Billy Luke Ordered To 10 More Years In Prison VIDEO: Familiar Face Returns To Court For Sentencing Five Dearborn Co. Inmates Accused In Jailhouse Attack Jury Convicts Dillsboro’s Billy Luke Of Violating Three Protection Orders Five Dearborn Co. Inmates Accused In Jailhouse Attack In Newly Discovered Letter, Convict’s Alleged Threats Increasingly Disturbing Dillsboro Troublemaker Faces More Charges Judge Allows Flasher To Continue In-Home Drug Store Flasher Allegedly Violated Protection Orders Man Convicted Of Exposing Self Now Accused Of Peeping The Naked Truth: Man Guilty of Public Indecency