A convicted murderer returned to Columbus after 20 years in prison to seek a reduction in his 75-year prison sentence.
Jason Dean Hubbell, 44, appeared before Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin on Feb. 20 for a post-conviction relief hearing.
Hubbell was arrested and charged with abducting Sharon Myers in a parking lot outside Arvin Industries on May 13, 1997.
Hubbell was a former Arvin employee whose benefits were handled by Myers. During the trial, a witness testified Hubbell was having difficulty getting insurance benefits and that Myers was treating him coldly.
The body of Myers, who was killed by strangulation, was discovered six months after her disappearance, at Teal Marsh in Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area north of Columbus.
On Nov. 4, 1999, a three-week trial concluded when a jury found Hubbell guilty of murder and criminal confinement. One month later, then-Circuit Court Judge Stephen Heimann sentenced Hubbell to 75 years in prison.
Hubbell quickly announced his intention to appeal the verdict and sentence with issues ranging from improper admission of evidence to denial of his right to counsel.
But the Indiana Supreme Court unanimously upheld the conviction and affirmed Heimann’s judgement in September 2001.
A year later, Hubbell filed his first petition for post-conviction relief. However, no action was taken until the summer of 2012, when Hubbell asked to withdraw the petition until he could acquire a new attorney.
In July 2013, Hubbell also asked for a new judge to consider his petition — a request denied by Heimann that same month.
In the spring of 2015, Heimann announced he would not seek re-election. At roughly the same time, Hubbell filed another petition for post-conviction relief.
It was the 2015 filing that resulted in this month’s court hearing before Benjamin, who succeeded Heimann in 2017, according to court documents.
In his latest petition, Hubbell is arguing that his original legal team consisting of Sean Thomasson, Mike Thomasson and Rod McGillivray made several errors during the legal proceedings.
Two of the three attorneys were not at the Feb. 20 hearing. McGillivray surrendered his license to practice law in July 2014. The other attorney, Mike Thomasson, died in a Nov., 2012 automobile accident south of Hope. But Sean Thomasson was subpoenaed to testify during the hearing.
Among the accusations Hubbell makes in his petition are that his lawyers did not:
Protect him from multiple punishments for the same offense
Seek evidence favorable to the defense being withheld by prosecutors
Adequately investigate the case and dispose witnesses in a timely manner
Properly and thoroughly impeach witnesses
One accusation is that his attorneys did not investigate a Johnson County man whom Hubbell claims could have been the real murderer.
But unlike his original trial, it will be Hubbell’s responsibility to actually prove these accusations in order to receive post-conviction relief, according to Indiana law.
Hubbell was immediately returned to prison in Pendleton after the hearing, according to a jail spokeswoman.
He requested 60 days to prepare his findings of facts and conclusions after receiving the transcript of the Feb. 20 hearing, according to the Circuit Court office.
While Benjamin agreed to Hubbell’s request, she also gave the same consideration to Bartholomew County deputy prosecutor Kathleen Burns.
