Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Francis Hamilton was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for burglary and escaping from jail.
Hamilton pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, a Class B felony; resisting/fleeing law enforcement, a Class D felony; and escape, a Class C felony, moments before his jury trial was scheduled to begin March 6.
Hamilton was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the burglary charge and 1-1/2 years for the resisting arrest charge that occurred in the same case. The two sentences will be served concurrently.
He was sentenced to four years in the separate escape charge when he reportedly got out of Kosciusko County Jail for a few hours in 1997.
Hamilton was given credit for the year he has served in prison awaiting trial. He has been in custody since he waived extradition from Kentucky and returned to Kosciusko County in March 1997.
Hamilton received twice the minimum penalty he faced on the charges, burglary requiring at least six years in prison and two years for the escape.
Hamilton was accused of breaking into a home in the Valley Springs housing addition on Nov. 16, 1996. The break-in occurred after a rash of similar burglaries earlier that year.
An eyewitness allegedly heard a noise in his house and then saw a man wearing a ski mask, dark clothes and gloves leaving the house. The man attempted to break into a house next door, then fled the scene.
Minutes later, a man matching the description of the burglar was spotted less than a mile away. Police saw the man in a field, and attempted to take him into custody since the suspect was wearing clothing matching the description of the burglar.
The man, identified as Hamilton, fled to Kentucky. He admitted to police that he was the man in the field, but he did not admit to the burglaries until he pleaded guilty.
Under Indiana state law, Hamilton could serve only eight years of the sentence if he stays on good behavior.
