BEDFORD —
The family of a slain 1976 Terre Haute South Vigo graduate breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday evening when the Greencastle man convicted of her brutal murder received a maximum 160-year prison sentence.
The resentencing of William A. Minnick in Lawrence Circuit Court likely assured that the man convicted of the 1981 murder of Martha Rushing Payne would not be released with “good time credit” from prison this coming October — or anytime before he turns 98.
In addition to his 60-year sentence for Payne’s murder, Judge Andrea McCord also sentenced Minnick to consecutive 50-year terms for rape and robbery, making him eligible for release in October 2061.
“Wrung out,” said Jim Payne said when asked how his testimony and Tuesday’s sentencing hearing affected him. A graduate of South Vigo himself, he had married Martha in June 1980. “But I’m relieved because we had this fear that the worst could happen. That he couldn’t get anything for rape and robbery.”
In fact, Payne said that Minnick’s statements during the hearing sounded to him almost like an apology and an admission of guilt.
“I felt that after all these years, he was almost ready to admit it,” Payne said of Minnick, who has proclaimed his innocence despite confessing to police shortly after the homicide.
Putnam County Prosecutor Timothy Bookwalter agreed.
“It sounded like he was admitting it,” Bookwalter said of Minnick’s statements to the judge.
“If a person could go back and change the past, he’d change the past,” Minnick said to Judge McCord when asked what he thought his sentence should be. “You can’t tell the victim’s family you are sorry, because the state will try to use that against you. But you are sorry.”
The judge also heard testimony from Martha Payne’s 81-year-old mother Eleanor Royer, her older sister Sharon Powell, Indiana State Police Detective Richard Rice, and retired police officer Jim Hendrich, who was a Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputy in 1981.
The hearing started almost an hour late, after Minnick became combative prior to the hearing, prompting his defense attorney to request a postponement in the hearing due to his mental health. The judge denied that request, and Minnick appeared attentive during the hearing.
Martha Payne’s family testified to the young woman’s vital lifestyle, and her mother Eleanor Royer said she discouraged her daughter from following her desire to help people by joining the Peace Corps.
“I thought it was dangerous,” Royer said. “Of course, she would still be living now probably if she had entered the Peace Corps.”
Her sister Sharon Powell said that coping with the memories of her cherished sister was like trying to live with a broken arm.
“You know you want to reach for those memories. How much do you want to reach for that when you know it’s going to be so painful,” Powell said, saying that the knowledge of what Martha endured in her torturous death clouds the good memories.
Martha Payne would be 53 now, but her life ended Oct. 26, 1981 in the Greencastle home that she and husband Jim had bought to renovate. Jim Payne asserts that Minnick stalked his wife in the days before the troubled teen entered the couple’s home to rape, stab, strangle and torture Martha.
Minnick, now 48, was only 18 at the time of the homicide. He was soon arrested and convicted by a jury of Payne’s murder while committing rape and robbery. He was given the death penalty.
But after a series of appeals, Minnick was found incompetent to be executed by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. His death-penalty decision was overturned in 2000, leaving Minnick with only the 60-year murder conviction. In July 2004, the Indiana Supreme Court ordered that Minnick be resentenced because his underlying sentence was no longer valid. Minnick was found incompetent to aid his legal counsel in his defense, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia while in prison. A competency hearing in March 2011 found him able to aid his counsel in the sentencing, leading up to Tuesday’s hearing.
Minnick indicated he would appeal the new sentence.
Prosecutor Bookwalter said he expects that the appeals court likely will uphold this new sentence.
Multimedia
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Arriving: Bill Minnick is seen walking with Lawrence County deputies to his sentencing hearing in the Lawrence County Courthouse on Tuesday in Bedford. Lisa Trigg
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Martha Rushing Payne's senior photo — 1976 Terre Haute South Vigo High School graduate. (Submitted photo)
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Wedding photo for Martha and Jim Payne. They got married in June 1980. (Submitted photo)
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Memories: This family photo of Martha Rushing Payne, among others, was entered into evidence at Tuesday's hearing. (Submitted photo)
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VIDEO: William Minnick resentenced for brutal 1981 crime
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