Tipton man ordered to finish 15-year sentence after probation violations

Apr. 23—A Tipton man will have to serve the remainder of his 15-year prison sentence related to a 2015 stabbing due to repeated probation violations.

On April 10, the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the order by Howard County Superior Court 4 Judge Hans Pate to sentence Zachary Scott to the balance of his sentencing after Scott violated the terms of his probation multiple times.

Scott was originally charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery when, in 2013, he and others beat and stabbed David Parr in "retaliation" to a "negative situation" that happened between Parr and Scott when the two were previously incarcerated together.

Parr survived the attack but suffered multiple fractures to his face, a punctured left lung, a ruptured diaphragm, a lacerated spleen and two puncture wounds to his chest.

At the time, Scott said if he had known Parr was still alive he would've gone back and cut Parr's throat, according to court documents.

Scott would eventually plead guilty to aggravated battery and was sentenced to 15 years with six years in prison, five years in-home detention and four years of probation. As part of a plea deal, the attempted murder charge was dropped.

It wasn't long after Scott was released from prison that he violated his probation.

In 2017, Scott violated his probation by visiting unapproved locations, failing to pay fees, failing to communicate with community corrections staff regarding his job status, failing to enroll with a drug screen provider and failing to contact his case manager.

Scott admitted to those violations and was ordered to return to home detention.

In 2019, while on home detention, Scott was found to be under the influence of a drug, according to court documents. He admitted to the violations and was ordered to serve one year on work release.

While on work release, Scott violated the terms of his probation by leaving the work release facility and not going to work. When confronted by work release staff, according to court documents, Scott fled and was later apprehended.

He admitted to the violation and was ordered to serve the remaining of his work release time on home detention. He also pled guilty to escape and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, of which one year was executed and the remaining time on supervised probation. Scott had a combined 366 credit and jail time days.

Lastly, Scott violated his probation in early 2023 after he disobeyed instructions by leaving the probation department facility before a drug test, diluting a drug screen, failed to appear for drug screens three separate times and committed additional criminal offenses in Madison County.

During the sentencing hearing in November, Pate made it clear he would not be sentencing Scott to community corrections.

"I don't think there's anything to reflect here on what you've done since then that changes (the original sentencing judge's) view before or my view now that your character has (not) changed much," Pate said, according to the court transcript. "You're still not able to do the things you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do them. And so I don't think that's gonna change if I were to put you back on probation or in-home detention or work release."

Scott appealed Pate's decision, arguing the judge relied, in part, on "hearsay" to reach his decision. That included the tidbit in the original police report that Scott stated he would have returned to cut Parr's throat if he had known Parr survived the attack.

According to Scott's appeal, that information — told to police by one of Scott's accomplices to the 2013 attack — was not introduced at any trial, nor was the person who said it cross examined.

"'The substantial trustworthiness test requires that the State demonstrate "good cause" for using hearsay rather than live testimony," the appeal states. "Here, no such showing was made as the trial court made such considerations sua sponte, without the request of the State."

The argument was not persuasive to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

In a memorandum upholding Pate's decision, the court stated Scott never objected to the supposed hearsay during his sentencing and, even on appeal, does not make an effort to argue why the "cut throat" statement is untrustworthy.

In addition, the appeals court says, even if Pate erred, "any error would be harmless" given Scott's "extensive" criminal history and repeated failure to follow the terms of his probation.

"We are confident that the trial court would have imposed the same sanction here even if it had not considered the materials Scott now challenges," the appeals court writes.

According to the Indiana Department of Correction, Scott's earliest possible release date is May 2025, though Scott is also serving a six-year sentence in a separate criminal case in Madison County where he pled guilty to felony charges of intimidation and residential entry.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.