Lundy To Return To Kosciusko County For Hearing
KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Colt Russel Lundy will return to Kosciusko County Thursday morning, Oct. 4, in his second attempt to have his 30-year sentence modified. He will appear before Judge David Cates, special judge, at 11:30 a.m. for the hearing.
Now 23 years old, Lundy was sentenced at the age of 15, Sept. 27, 2010, on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, a class A felony. His sentence was 30 years at the Indiana Department of Corrections, with five years suspended to be served on probation. Due to good time credit his projected release date is May 2020.
Lundy, through a plea agreement, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in the murder of Phillip Danner, his stepfather, April 20, 2010. He has served most of his time at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, and the Correctional Industrial Facility, near Pendleton. He is currently at the Westville Correctional Facility where he is employed outside the facility.
Lundy’s first request for sentence modification was in March 2016. However, that request was denied.
His request was officially filed with the court July 2. Since that time the court has received several progress reports from the Indiana Department of Corrections, as well as a letter of acceptance from the Kosciusko County Community Corrections. A supplemental progress was received Aug. 29.
Documents filed Aug. 29 by Lundy’s defense counsel, David Kolbe, noted as an adult, Lundy has had no conduct violations. The one major infraction and three minor infractions during his incarceration occurred as a juvenile.
The one major infraction occurred when Lundy was 17 when a female correctional officer overheard Lundy say she was “checking out” Lundy. She took offense and wrote him up, causing him to lose 90 days of good time credit and several weeks of commissary. However, 75 days of good time credit was later restored.
The three minor infractions occurred during his first three years at the DOC – October 2010, June 2011 and October 2012. One was a violation of a facility rule, another involving staff interference and the third involving horseplay, all while housed in the juvenile section of Wabash Valley.
Lundy had submitted a letter to the court in May 2018, in which the court noted the communication was not in the form of a motion as required by the Indiana Rules of Trial procedure and took no action.
In that letter, Lundy asked the court to consider a sentence modification if it was filed. He noted he graduated from Grace College with a grade point average of 3.7 with an associate of science degree, has completed an administrative assistant apprenticeship with the Department of Labor, teaching himself to write code and create databases. Other accomplishments were noted.
“I am aware that modifying my sentence may be perceived as a risk, due to the nature of my crime. Your honor, I do not lead a criminal lifestyle. My circumstances corroborate statistics, which show recidivism in a case like mine is very low. I have strong family support; I am educated; I have hard and soft job skills; and I do not use drugs or drink. … I am not a risk for you. I accept responsibility and have served all the time that will be productive to me and society … .”
Paul Gingerich, 20, who was a co-defendant in the case, had his sentence modified in March 2017 being placed under the jurisdiction of the Allen County Community Corrections. Court records show in July he successfully graduated from the re-entry court program and was referred to the Allen County Community Corrections home detention program.
Gingerich was sentenced in January 2011 to 30 years, and in 2014, after an appeal, was re-sentenced to the same amount of time with a review hearing after he reached the age of 18. He was 12 years old at the time of his original sentencing.