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| Three Teens Get 18 Years Each for Assault On a Fellow Inmate |
| By Indianapolis Star |
| Published: 01/10/2002 |
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Three young Marion County Jail inmates each were sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison for beating and sexually assaulting another teen-age inmate with a bottle of hot sauce. Donvito Arnold, 16, Richard Childs, 18, and Mitchell Ludy, 17, were convicted last month of criminal deviate conduct, criminal confinement and battery for attacking the 17-year-old victim in the jail on Dec. 17, 2000. 'Maybe you fellas didn't fear justice before, but you will now,' Marion Superior Court Judge Cale Bradford said. At the time of the attack, the inmates and their victim were all younger than age 18 and awaiting trial in adult court. They were segregated in a cellblock set aside for about 30 youths who are charged with adult crimes. The victim, now 18, said Tuesday he still suffers the emotional scars of the attack. 'It's hard sometimes to sleep at night,' he said. 'I get hard on myself for letting it happen, but I couldn't fight three people off.' The victim, a convicted armed robber sentenced to serve 10 years in prison, testified during last month's trial that the three inmates took turns punching, kicking and smacking him with wet shower shoes. He said they shoved his head into a toilet bowl that contained urine. He said they took down his pants and assaulted him with a bottle of hot sauce one of the attackers had purchased at the jail commissary. On Tuesday, the victim scolded his attackers from the witness stand and asked the judge to send them to prison. 'Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves for putting yourselves and your families through this,' the victim said. 'You could have been out by now. Now you're all looking at more time because of this.' At the time of the attack, Childs was awaiting a burglary trial and Ludy was awaiting trial on robbery charges. Arnold was awaiting trial on a charge of murder, but that was dismissed last week. Defense attorneys asked the judge to show leniency, noting that Arnold, Ludy and Childs are young and eventually will be released back into society. Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Adrienne Meiring said the attackers all have long criminal records despite their youth. She asked the judge to give each the maximum 20-year sentence. 'In one of the most restrictive environments, they demeaned and humiliated another human being,' Meiring said. 'If they can't conform to our rules in jail, God only knows what they will do on the streets.' |
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