Ten years ago, Robert Earl Hootman II was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the stabbing death of Barbara Lee Hulley. Now, he claims he was wrongfully arrested and convicted and is suing the state and county for $300,000. In a civil lawsuit filed in Kosciusko Superior Court I, Hootman claims that he was maliciously prosecuted and that "the state ...never possessed the power to charge (him) with the charge of murder ..."He is serving as his own attorney in this matter. In May 1987, Hootman confessed to the Sept.21, 1984, murder of Hulley and subsequently entered into a plea agreement.He was sentenced to 60 years in prison on April 20, 1988, and is currently imprisoned at the Indiana Reformatory at Pendleton. Hootman filed a petition for post-conviction relief through his criminal case in June and the state, by Prosecutor David Kolbe, answered the petition in denial.
Ruth Anne Lipka, Times-Union Lifestyles Editor- | July 28, 2016