Kyle David DeHart

WARSAW — One of four pending cases against Kyle DeHart, Syracuse, has been dismissed by the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office. An order dismissing the charges, of corrupt business influence, a level 5 felony and conspiracy to commit dealing in a synthetic drug or synthetic drug look-a-like substance, filed in August 2014, has been dismissed.

The motion to dismiss was filed Thursday, Dec. 22, in Kosciusko County Circuit Court. Judge Michael Reed granted the motion.

Charges of possession of a synthetic drug or synthetic drug look-a-like substance, a class A misdemeanor; battery resulting in bodily injury, a class A misdemeanor and battery resulting in bodily injury, a class A misdemeanor and possession of marijuana, a class B misdemeanor, are still pending in Kosciusko Superior Court 2. Charges of burglary resulting in bodily injury, a class A felony and battery by means of a deadly weapon, a class C felony, are pending in Kosciusko Superior Court 1. Pretrial conferences and/or status conferences remain scheduled on these cases.

DeHart was sentenced Oct. 26 to 110 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections after a jury found him guilty of the Feb. 19, 2015, murders of Tara Thornburg and Josh Knisley and a charge of obstruction of justice.

An appeal of his sentence is pending in the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Woody Cases Still Pending

Brandon Thomas Woody

Brandon Woody, Syracuse, also has four cases pending. Charges of possession of marijuana, a class B misdemeanor; possession of a synthetic drug or synthetic drug look-a-like substance, a class A misdemeanor; and battery resulting in bodily injury, a class A misdemeanor, are pending in Kosciusko Superior Court 2. Charges of burglary resulting in bodily injury, a class A felony and battery by means of a deadly weapon, a class C felony, is pending in Kosciusko Superior Court 1. A charge of dealing in a synthetic drug or synthetic drug look-a-like substance, a level 5 felony, is pending in Kosciusko Circuit Court.

As with DeHart’s cases, these matters are scheduled for pretrial conferences and/or status conferences.
Woody was sentenced Oct. 26, to 120 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections after a jury found him guilty of the murders Feb. 19, 2015, of Tara Thornburg and Josh Knisley.

An appeal of his sentence is pending in the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Remaining Defendants

Two of the three remaining defendants — Thomas Hursey and Ashlyn Shepard, have appeared before the court.
The charge of assisting a criminal, a level 5 felony, against Joan DeHart, Elkhart, is scheduled for a pretrial hearing in 2017.

Thomas Hursey

Hursey, Warsaw, will appear before Reed Jan. 26 to learn if his plea of guilty to two counts of aiding/inducing robbery causing serious bodily injury, level 2 felonies, will be accepted. If accepted sentencing will take place that morning. Hursey entered the plea Dec. 14.

The two murder charges and the charge of aiding/inducing obstruction of justice will be dropped if the plea agreement is accepted. Additionally, charges of dealing in a narcotic drug, a level A felony; possession of a narcotic drug, a class B felony; strangulation, a class D felony; domestic battery, a class A misdemeanor; burglary, a class C felony; and theft, a class D felony would be dismissed. A maximum time of incarceration of 20 years is a part of the plea agreement. He was a key witness for the prosecution in the jury trial.

The charge of obstruction of justice, a level 6 felony, filed against Shepard was dismissed without prejudice by Reed.

The order dismissing the case was ordered Oct. 7 but not officially filed with the courts until Nov. 7. Shepard testified against DeHart during the jury trial.