A former local volleyball coach sentenced to prison on three felony child-molesting convictions had his sentence reduced in Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
Bruce Giggy, 62, of Columbus, was sentenced to six years and eight months on each of the child molesting counts last June by Superior Court 1 Judge Jim Worton after Giggy pleaded guilty to the charges in April. The plea bargain Giggy agreed to in April left sentencing up to the judge.
Worton took about five years off Giggy’s estimated 20-year sentence at a hearing Monday after considering a motion to correct an erroneous sentence filed by defense attorney Mark Dove.
In the motion, Dove argued that a federal court ruling, Blakely vs. Washington, held that a sentencing court could not sentence a defendant exceeding the presumptive sentence for any crime unless a jury found aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt.
Because two of the convictions involved cases alleged to have occurred in 1999, and Giggy entered a plea bargain agreement rather than having a jury trial, Giggy could not be sentenced to more than the presumptive sentence of four years on two of the counts, which resulted in the reduced sentence, Dove said.
Prior to Worton’s ruling to reduce the sentence, Giggy said he no longer wanted Dove as his attorney, saying he had not asked Dove to file the motion to correct the erroneous sentence.
Dove then asked the court to withdraw as Giggy’s attorney, which the court granted, and Dove sat in the gallery for the remainder of the hearing as Giggy then represented himself.
Dressed in a red jail jumpsuit and now with a full beard, Giggy asked to read a statement to the court, which Worton allowed.
Giggy told Worton he wanted to make it clear that he would have never entered into the plea bargain agreement on the child-molesting charges except for the advice from Dove, and had he known what would happen, he would have sought a jury trial instead of entering into a plea bargain.
Giggy submitted a letter from Dove that he contended stated that Dove “mis-advised” him about the plea bargain.
Bartholomew County Deputy Prosecutor Mary Wertz objected to the letter, saying it wasn’t relevant to the motion to correct the erroneous sentence. She also questioned why Giggy would now say he would have rather gone to trial and faced as much as 24 years in prison, rather than take the plea bargain with a sentence that had been reduced to 14 years and 8 months.
With Indiana’s good-time law, which allows defendants to take one day off their sentence for every day served, Giggy will now serve slightly more than seven years in prison for his sentence.
Worton told Giggy that anything relating to seeking a jury trial or allegations of not being adequately represented by counsel would have to be handled through a post-conviction relief motion to the court.
“You are not going to get a post-conviction relief ruling today,” Worton said.
Giggy, who is incarcerated in the Putnamville Correctional Center, was originally charged with five counts of felony child molesting, involving four different children, court records state. Two of the counts were dismissed as a part of the plea bargain.
He was accused of molesting four different children younger than age 14 between 1999 and 2008 at his Columbus home, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed in the case. In the charges, Giggy was accused of fondling the victims and attempting to have the victims fondle him, court documents state. Ages of the victims now range from 15 to 26.
Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash said it is not unusual for defendants who take a plea bargain who receive a bigger sentence than expected to seek a way out of the deal.
However, he also said he is quite confident in the manner in which the Bartholomew County courts handle plea bargains. Each defendant must affirm that they understand their constitutional rights, the factual basis for the conviction, the terms of the plea bargain and the potential penalties, Nash said.
