A Monroe County judge sentenced Michael Deweese, 20, to 109 1/2 years in prison in a sentencing hearing Tuesday morning for rape and attempted murder committed in 2014.
While waiting for his sentencing, Deweese’s baby girl was born. In his statement to the court today, Deweese spoke about his daughter.
“My daughter was born when I was in jail, and I’ve had no chance to hold her,” Deweese said.
Judge Marc Kellams sentenced Deweese to 109 years, with a chance for parole after 82 years. If he stays in prison for his full sentence, he won’t hold his daughter until he’s 102 years old.
During the three-hour long hearing Tuesday, letters from a victim and the mother of a victim were read and testimonies from Deweese’s cousin and grandmother were heard by a full gallery that poured into the jury stand.
The victims of his gang rape, burglary, attempted robbery and various other crimes still aren’t sleeping, according to statements read by victim advocates at the sentencing and written by the victims and their family. They refuse to leave their bedrooms at night to go to the bathroom in case an intruder is waiting to harm them. They believe they will never be able to live alone again.
“He has, in a way, taken my daughter away forever,” the mother of a victim, noted as AMR, wrote in a letter read aloud during DeWeese’s sentencing hearing Tuesday morning.
In November 2014, Deweese, then 19 years old, entered the Bloomington apartment of three 24-year-old female IU students just northwest of campus. He then raped one woman and assisted in raping the other.
He committed the crimes with alleged cohorts Vaylen Glazebrook and Jesse Benti-Torres.
BPD officer William Abram responded to a 911 call one of the women’s roommates had made. Two shots were fired, and Abram took cover.
Abram went to the west side of the apartment and saw two men fleeing the property.
They then fired another shot at Abrams, and Abrams fired back reportedly hitting Glazebrook and Deweese.
Abram later received the Congressional Badge of Bravery for responding to the attack.
Just hours before the attack, the victim noted as SRE was ending a two-hour phone call with her long-distance boyfriend. During the attack SRE was forced to wonder if she would ever see him or her family again, she wrote in her letter. She didn’t think she’d survive the night.
As she was forced to perform oral sex on Deweese with a gun to her head, she thought about biting his penis off.
“I always said I’d just bite it off when I thought about these situations,” she writes in her letter. “I was numb. I couldn’t move.”
SRE asked for the harshest possible penalty for Deweese. She said she still suffers from the attacks and believes she always will, but that they won’t break her forever.
“This world we live in is not safe,” she wrote in her letter. “There are people out there who are sick — I am still enjoying my life. You will not break me.”
Deweese’s younger cousin, Olivia Lopez, 15, gave a statement about the character of her cousin who she said was much like a brother to her.
While crying, she begged the court to not take Deweese’s life because she said his daughter needed him and because their family has already lost enough people to drugs and prison. As she spoke, tears fell from Deweese’s eyes for the first time that day.
Deweese’s grandmother gave a statement acknowledging the horrible acts Deweese admitted to but hoped he wouldn’t be handed a life sentence. She spoke about how he never swore or raised his voice and was working hard to financially support his then-pregnant girlfriend.
She said she feels sorry for the girls and Deweese should be punished. As she walked back to the gallery, she apologized to the audience.
Abram said he didn’t believe it was fair for Deweese’s family and attorney to argue Deweese shouldn’t get a life sentence because it would mean Deweese misses out on his daughter’s life. He stated Deweese’s actions that night have caused damage to several people, lasting beyond the evening of the attack.
Finally, Deweese apologized. He said if he could take it all back he would and that it was his fault and his fault alone.
“I had many opportunities to go that night,” Deweese said. “I had a beautiful girlfriend with a baby on the way. I should’ve been with them.”
Prosecuting attorney Chris Gaal argued the crimes were extremely brutal and showed “violent disregard for the humanity of the victims,” and therefore deserved aggravated sentences.
He asked for 146 years in total for the attempted murder, three counts of rape, confinement, burglary, armed robbery and the mandatory firearm enhancement for all crimes.
Defense attorney Roy Graham argued a life sentence was too long and what the state was asking for exceeded what is asked for when murder is committed.
He also argued Deweese will already be continually punished by being labeled a sex offender for life.
Kellams said he could never understand why Deweese committed these crimes, no matter Deweese’s level of intoxication or dysfunctional family and childhood.
“This was a horrific crime,” Kellams said. “It shocks the community consciousness that this happened.”
Kellams said Deweese’s acts were monstrous but also cited worse possibilities and therefore could not accept the max sentence of 146 years proposed. He instead gave smaller sentences for various charges adding up to 109 1/2 years.
“No young woman who comes to college should ever have to go through what these young women went through,” Kellams said. “They come here to make life better for themselves. No one comes to have what happened to them happen to them.”
