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Friends and family joined Roger Hale in the courtroom today to ask the judge for leniency in sentencing Hale.
But Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge Duane Huffer sentenced Hale to 20 years in prison for the arson of Hale's home Sept. 24, 1996.
A jury found Hale guilty April 22 of setting the fire that destroyed his home. The arson conviction was a Class A felony because a firefighter was injured fighting the blaze. Hale said he plans to appeal the decision.
The presumptive sentence for a Class A felony is 30 years in prison, but Huffer said there were no aggravating circumstances in the case. Because Hale had no prior criminal record and other mitigating situations, Huffer took 10 years off the presumptive sentence.
Hale was remanded to custody of the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department to be sent to the Indiana Department of Corrections. His earliest release date, according to Huffer, would be May 28, 2008.
More than 30 people attended the sentencing to support Hale and protest his innocence.
Five members of Hale's close family spoke, including two who testified in his trial.
"I know Roger is innocent," Basel Hale Jr., his brother, said. "If he is given a harsh sentence, it will affect a lot of people including his kids." Roger has two young children, a son, 6, and a 4-year-old daughter.
While his mother, Evalee Hale, spoke to the judge, she kept her hand gently touching Roger's head and back of his neck. "I taught him right from wrong ... I am very proud of them," she said of her three sons.
"He is no danger to society," Evalee said. A harsh sentence would "not only hurt Roger - it would be devastating to the family and two young children, too young to know what's going on."
"Go easy on him," Basel Hale Sr., Roger's father, asked the judge as he put his arm around his son.
"I know he didn't do the crime that everyone said he did," Forest Hale, Roger's other brother, said. "If you guys say there was arson, you've got the wrong person."
Roger's aunt, Eliner Francis, told the judge, "Roger is good for society - not someone we have to fear out there."
Several friends, including Rick and Brenda Heiman, spoke of Hale's character and said, "He's been a real good guy ... an honest man."
Melissa Marshall said she's known Hale for five years and "he's been a really good husband and father. ... He's a really good person and an honest person."
After the judge announced the sentence and Roger was led away in handcuffs, Evalee said in tears, "Roger is innocent. He really is."
