Ind. appeals court upholds stabbing sentence

INDIANAPOLIS — The state Court of Appeals has upheld a southern Indiana man’s 65-year prison sentence for killing his aunt, who was stabbed 80 times.

Jeremiah Hancock’s appeal argued that a Lawrence County judge abused his discretion in giving him the maximum possible sentence.

But The Herald-Times reports the appeals court ruled that the sentence fit what it called an “extremely heinous” crime. Its ruling notes that Hancock stabbed 57-year-old Diana Tabor 80 times and that he counted aloud as he inflicted each stab wound.

Hancock was sentenced in March, after pleading guilty to one count of murder. Authorities say Hancock, then 19, went to Tabor’s home in October 2008, and fatally stabbed her following a confrontation over he and his girlfriend’s theft of money from his aunt’s debit card.