Steven Ray Bean will serve at least 15 years in prison for stabbing 28-year-old Vicky Elder 14 times Dec. 11 in her Westhaven Estates home.

Bean, 20, was sentenced Thursday in Kosciusko Superior Court to 30 years in prison for attempted murder, a Class A felony punishable by up to 50 years of incarceration. He was given 50 years in prison for a Class A felony offense of burglary, but Judge Robert Burner suspended the term for probation. Bean's probation was ordered served consecutively with the prison term.

"The only real justice would be for a couple of police officers to hold you and give Mrs. Elder a knife and let her cut you like you did her," Burner told Bean prior to handing down his sentence. "But that's not appropriate." He later said: "I'm not happy with this judgment, (but) I think I've done about the best I can do considering the act involved."

Bean's mother sobbed in the courtroom as deputy prosecutor Chuck Waggoner argued for the maximum sentence of 100 years for the combination of the crimes. Burner stopped the hearing to discuss legal issues in his chambers after Waggoner insisted that the offenses should be considered as separate incidents because Bean left the trailer after the foiled burglary and came back to "finish her off," resulting in the attempted murder charge.

If two or more offenses are committed during a single incident, the law provides for the sentences from each charge to be served concurrently. Burner apparently viewed the offenses as separate and ordered the terms served one after the other.

At the start of the sentencing, an emotional Elder read a hand-written statement to the court in an attempt to tell what she and her family have endured since the incident nearly a year ago.

"I'm not comfortable," Elder said, "but this is something I have to do."

Elder released her anger when she told the court how she was confronted naked in her bathroom by the knife-wielding Bean and didn't know she had been stabbed until she saw the knife in his hand.

"He was there to kill me," she said, adding that it was her fear to protect her child that "kept me fighting, kept me alive."

Elder suffered 14 stab wounds in the attack, including one that punctured a lung and another that broke a rib. She fought her way out of the bathroom to find out where her 4-year-old son was and whether he was hurt. The young child was not physically wounded by Bean, but a crying Elder said, "Steven Bean victimized my son every bit as much as he victimized me ... I feel strongly that my son was affected by Mr. Bean's action. I can't make what he saw go away."

When Elder's son saw her "naked and bleeding through gaping wounds and a rib sticking out of my side," she said, he started to scream. She then call 911 and, after telling the dispatcher that she had been stabbed, she gave the telephone to her son. A tape of the 911 call was presented as evidence at the sentencing hearing.

The Elders never returned to their home to live after the incident - "You can never call a place home after such a violent act occurred," Elder said. She and her husband and child relied on family for housing, and she required personal care from her mother, including dressing and washing her hair.

She also incurred medical bills and the costs of cleaning the blood out of her former home.

Bean's court-appointed attorney, Nikos Nakos of Fort Wayne, attempted to blame Bean's behavior on his upbringing, saying that Bean kept to himself and didn't get guidance from his parents. "I sincerely believe we wouldn't be here if Mr. Bean ever got the love and affection afforded to Mrs. Elder." Elder had said that she was raised by strict, but loving, parents.

Bean apologized to Elder and her family during the hearing. "My intention was never to hurt anyone," he said. "I truly believed that no one was home ... I know God has forgiven me my sins and I hope the Elders' family will also."

His statement in court, however, conflicted with that made in a confession shortly after the incident in which he stated he was mad at the world and wanted to hurt someone. The incident apparently resulted because the unemployed Bean was unable to buy Christmas gifts for his infant child. [[In-content Ad]]