Robert Edward Hurley

Robert Hurley, who initially entered an insanity defense for murdering his roommate in March of 2013, accepted a plea for voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced in court this morning.

Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officers arrested Robert Edward Hurley, now 55, for the strangling death of his roommate, Lionel Dale King, 51, on the day of the crime. Both men resided at Lot 34 in Hideaway Hills. (See related)

StaceyPageOnline.com was the only media present for the sentencing. The plea deal accepted by Hurley is a Class B felony count of voluntary manslaughter.

Kosciusko County Prosecutor Dan Hampton told Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed, “In fashioning the plea agreement, we received cooperation from the family of the victim; this was a partnership with the family.” Hampton added, “The difficult part of this is obviously the loss of life. Lionel King died March 3, 2013, and the death was caused by another person.”

King’s family provided the court with a photo of the victim’s final resting spot and asked that the photo be shown to Hurley. Hampton presented the photo to defense attorney Scott Reust by laying it on the table next to him. Hurley glanced at the photo twice, but never asked to see it and Reust never acknowledged it.

With no comment or statement from the defense, Judge Reed accepted the plea agreement noting, “I’m at a loss for words … Mr. Hurley, you knowingly or intentionally, in a heat of passion, killed another person … you did that and you’ll live with your actions the rest of your life. For the family, no one can bring anyone back and no one ever deserves to die … and from what I read, (King) was greatly loved and is missed by his family.”

Hurley was sentenced to 20 years incarceration at the Indiana Department of Corrections. He received 471 days credit and will also received good time credit, meaning he will spend approximately 8 years in prison.

Had Hurley and his defense team of Reust and Jay Rigdon chosen to go to trial for the original Class A felony murder charge and been found guilty, he could have faced up to 65 years imprisonment. Instead, with the plea, the murder charge was dismissed.