Press Releases
Feb 04, 2010 - KOCIELKO IS NOT HAPPY ABOUT “HARPOON”
*** MEDIA ADVISORY***
February 4, 2010
KOCIELKO IS NOT HAPPY ABOUT “HARPOON”
Media Contact: Curtis T. Hill, Jr. - 296-1888
Paul Kocielko, age 39, formerly of Elkhart, was clearly displeased at the 50-year maximum sentence he received today in Elkhart Superior Court 3. Kocielko had been convicted at jury trial on January 7, 2010, of two (2) counts of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, and of being an Habitual Offender, when prosecutors proved he had fondled and performed sodomy upon a 14 year-old child after providing her with alcohol at a local hotel in August of 2007.
During the sentencing hearing, evidence was presented by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Susan Snyder, demonstrating that Kocielko had hidden a coil of wire and a “shank,” a weapon that resembled a harpoon, in Kocielko’s box of legal papers found during a shakedown of his cell a few days before the sentencing hearing. Kocielko objected to the presentation of the homemade weapons at his hearing, complaining this was an “evidentiary harpoon” of which he did not have notice. Officer Brandon Shepherd of the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department testified, however, that Kocielko was confronted with the fact that he had discovered these items in Kocielko’s belongings on January 26, 2010.
The Honorable George Biddlecome found that the possession of these weapons violated the rules of the Elkhart County Correctional Complex and ordered that credit time to which Kocielko would have been entitled under Indiana Law would not be granted. The credit time denied Kocielko totaled just short of 900 days. Indiana Law allows the credit time of an offender to be denied if a violation of the institution in which they are held is violated.
Kocielko intends to seek appeal.
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