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Last updated on Thursday, December 18, 2014
(BLOOMFIELD) - Jason Caldwell was sentenced to 111 years in prison for the murder of David Lamm and the rape of a surviving victim.
Under the state's new sentencing law he must serve 75 percent of his time behind bars. After serving 83 years in prison, 36-year-old Caldwell, from rural Solsberry, will be more than 119 years old. His sentence will not begin until 2016 after he completes another sentence in an unrelated case in Morgan County.
Greene County Superior Court Judge Dean Martin pronounced the sentence Wednesday afternoon.
On the count of murder, the advisory sentence in Indiana is 55 years, with a sentence range from 45 up to 65 years depending on aggravating and mitigating factors. The judge gave Caldwell 63 years.
On the count of rape, the advisory sentence is 30 years, with a sentence range of 20 up to 40 years. Caldwell was given 38 years.
On top of that, Caldwell will serve an additional 10 years on a sentence enhancement for being an habitual criminal.
All of those sentences will be served consecutively, one after the other, for the total of 111 years.
The Greene County Daily World reports that Public Defender Alan Baughman, who represented Caldwell, told the judge there were multiple mitigating factors: Caldwell cooperated with law enforcement which helped resolve the case; he took responsibility, gave up his right to a jury trial and admitted guilt; and the most important one -- his childhood. Baughman said Caldwell grew up in an extremely dysfunctional and violent family where he was emotionally, mentally, physically and sexually abused.
Documents entered into the record included reports from recent psychological evaluations with a doctor saying Caldwell was "severely psychologically wounded" and that he had major depressive disorder.
However, Greene County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtsclaw said aggravating factors included his significant criminal history and that Caldwell had been in trouble since he was eight, at one point was waived up into adult court, and had eight separate felony convictions plus numerous misdemeanor convictions.
The second aggravating factor, according to Holtsclaw, was that the injuries in this case were significant -- Lamm was killed, and his wife was raped at gunpoint plus bound with rope and duct tape.
The third was that Caldwell had violated probation and parole numerous times -- and he was on parole at the time of the homicide, was being monitored, but had cut the GPS monitor off.
The fourth was that Caldwell was on parole for a child molestation conviction at the time.
The fifth was that there were multiple victims and that after killing Lamm, Caldwell had time to reflect on his actions before he attacked Lamm's wife.
The sixth was that Caldwell had violated the trust of his friend, Lamm, who had provided Caldwell with a place to stay, money and food.
"Holtsclaw said maximum sentences should be reserved for the worst offenders and in his opinion, Jason Caldwell is the worst. He said the facts of this case were difficult to stomach and he asked for maximum sentences.
Caldwell didn't get the maximum, but close to it. The judge told Caldwell she didn't think she had any other option.
Indiana State Police Detective Brian Smith from ISP's Criminal Investigation Division at the Bloomington Post described the circumstances of the case and how the investigation proceeded. He testified that Lamm's wife was found in a road, naked and bound with ropes and Lamm was found face down by an abandoned car. He had been shot in the face. Caldwell had taken Lamm's wife's vehicle and debit cards and fled the scene. He was later found in an Indianapolis hotel with two females he met along the way, and the murder weapon, which had been sold, was recovered from a drug dealer in Indy.
Smith said it appeared the motive behind the incident was robbery -- Caldwell wanted money.
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