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August 10, 2012

Felon lands in prison for 165 years

Jeremy Musall — convicted of rape, murder — apologizes to victims

Lisa Trigg The Tribune-Star

ROCKVILLE — A Cloverdale man convicted by jury of the August 2011 torture killing of Joseph Snow in southeastern Parke County received a 165-year prison sentence Thursday.

Jeremy Musall, 28, made only a brief statement during a sentencing hearing in Parke Circuit Court.

Musall apologized to Snow’s family and his own family, as well as to the woman he raped on the night he killed Snow by beating and strangling him in front of Snow’s toddler child.

“I wish Joe Snow was alive today,” Musall said.

In July, a Parke County jury found Musall guilty of murder, burglary, rape and kidnapping in connection with Snow’s death. Musall was accused of killing Snow in a mobile home near Rocky Fork Lake, then putting the dead man’s body in the trunk of a car and driving to Putnam County where he dumped the body in a cornfield.

Judge Sam Swaim heard from Snow’s mother, who called Musall a 200-pound coward for beating her son while he was asleep. He also heard from the rape victim, who said she and her daughter have been traumatized by the events of that night.

“Jeremy, you have changed mine and my children’s life forever,” the woman said. “You tortured Joe to death in front of me and my daughter.”

She said she has nightmares about that night, and her youngest child still wakes up screaming.

“I feel you should never walk the streets again,” the woman said, reading her statement to the judge while seated at the witness stand. “You almost took another man’s life a few years ago and they let you out and gave you another chance. You get to live and the rest of us live on with what you did. You took Joe’s life in front of me and I couldn’t do a thing about it.”

In statements made on behalf of Musall, his mother described Musall as a good father to his own son. She said Musall had trouble with a gang in Indianapolis prior to moving to Cloverdale, but he was not involved in the gang. He ended up graduating from high school in Mooresville.

Musall’s ex-wife said she was aware that he was receiving mental health counseling prior to the incident, and she said she wished she hadn’t filed for divorce from him. When Prosecutor Steve Cvengros asked her if Musall had battered her in the past, she said that he was taken to jail after an argument, but had never battered her any other time.

Cvengros said that in looking at Musall’s record, the defendant had six prior convictions from 2006 to 2008, and five of those were for battery. He also had eight probation violations, and was on probation for a class-C felony battery at the time of Snow’s death.

Cvengros also asked the judge to consider that the crime incurred in front of Snow’s daughter, who was 20-months-old at the time. He referred to photos of the child that showed her father’s blood on her pajamas, and he noted that the child fell asleep on a pillow covered with her father’s blood.

The prosecutor asked for a sentence of 215 years.

Defense attorney James Bruner asked that the judge allow the sentences for four of the convictions to run concurrently, and consider only the kidnapping charge as a consecutive sentence. Bruner suggested the sentence be up to 50 years in prison.

Judge Swaim said that he found Musall to be among the “worst of the worst” based on his violent criminal history, including a class-C felony conviction for battery in Putnam County in 2008.

Swaim said he found that if Musall were “released today he would likely find others to torture, rape and murder.”

 The judge recounted some of the acts that occurred the night that Snow died, saying that Musall “wiped the trailer with Mr. Snow, all the while screaming that Snow was going to die that night.”

In reviewing the facts of the case, Swaim said the aggravating circumstances of the case far outweigh any mitigating circumstances.

Swaim said that it was clear that Musall has been violent for many years, and appears to enjoy violence.

He sentenced him to the maximum 65 years on the murder conviction, and a concurrent 20 years on burglary resulting in bodily injury.

For the class-A felony charges of rape and burglary resulting in bodily injury that occurred to Snow’s girlfriend, the judge sentenced Musall to the maximum 50 years, consecutive to the murder charge. As for the class-A felony charge of kidnapping, the judge set a 50-year maximum sentence.

The judge said the child saw her father being beaten and tortured, and while he hopes she won’t remember everything that happened that night due to her young age, it is still a heavy burden for her to bear for the rest of her life.

Musall will receive credit for 363 days he has already spent in jail since his arrest.

Musall indicated he plans to appeal his conviction and sentencing.



Reporter Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @TribStarLisa.

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