Marshall County Prosecuting Attorney Nelson Chipman argued for the maximum sentence available for Russell Prosser, Jr. after a jury convicted him in February for being a serious violent felon in possession of a firearm and being a habitual offender. Special Judge Michael Reed of Kosciusko County, sitting in Marshall Superior Court No. 2 agreed with Chipman for the most part emphasizing a life of crime and victimizing people as a thief and a robber. Reed sentenced Prosser to 13 years on the B felony possession of a firearm, with a 15 year enhancement as a habitual offender. Reed made the sentences consecutive to Prosser’s existing sentence of 4 years, for a total prison term of 32 years.
A Marshall County jury heard two days of testimony and evidence in February and returned a verdict of guilt against Prosser, Jr., of South Bend and formerly of Culver, Indiana. Prosser, 44, was charged with two counts of being a Serious Violent Felon in Possession of a Firearm. The jury deliberated close to five hours before delivering a verdict of guilty on Count I: Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon, a Class B felony. The gun alleged to be possessed by Prosser was a .22 semi-automatic rifle found in the bed of a pick-up truck in which Prosser was the sole occupant. The jury acquitted Prosser of a second count of Possession of a flint lock pistol found under the driver’s seat of the truck.
Chipman represented the State of Indiana for the first phase of the trial involving the guns. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tami Napier presented the State’s case to the jury on the Habitual Offender charge. Matthew Sarber of the law firm of Lukenbill and Lukenbill represented Prosser.
The case began at approximately 4:30 am on December 9, 2013, when a pick-up truck was located parked in the MacDonald’s parking lot in LaPaz by Sgt. Nick Laffoon, and assisted by Officer Ryan Hollopeter of the Marshall County Police Department. Sleeping in the truck was Russell Prosser. Immediately observed by Sgt. Laffoon was a semi-automatic rifle in the bed of the truck. His boots were examined and found to have the same tread pattern as footprints in the snow in Culver where numerous parked cars had been broken into. The two officers knew Prosser had several prior convictions, and found that at least one was as a serious violent felony. That conviction stems from a 1990 robbery while armed with a deadly weapon in which Prosser admitted to robbing a woman in Culver of a bank bag containing $9500. Prosser was sentenced to 10 years in prison for that offense.
With that kind of felony history, it is illegal for Prosser to possess any type of firearm, so the Marshall County Prosecutors Office authorized charges. Also approved at that time against Prosser were 10 additional counts of theft and possession of stolen property and unauthorized entry into motor vehicles earlier that night in Culver. A trial before a jury was held on that case in late October, 2014 after which Prosser was convicted of all 10 counts alleged. Culver Police Officers Troy Ulch and Chad Becker were instrumental in reaching a successful conclusion.
The firearm case had been separated from the Culver case for technical reasons of not letting the first jury hear Prosser had a prior felony conviction. The State was represented at that trial by then Chief Deputy Prosecutor Nelson Chipman, and Prosser was represented by Sarber and Jere Humphrey. Prosser was sentenced in that case to the maximum under the law of 4 years of imprisonment.
Chipman stated, “The citizens of Marshall County can be very proud of the law enforcement officers involved in catching Russell Prosser and putting the case together with compelling evidence. And the people on both juries saw through all the evidence in order to hold Russell Prosser accountable for a lifetime of criminal activity. He has literally been a scourge upon our community since his first adult conviction in 1988. It is my hope that no one will be victimized by Russell Prosser for a long, long time.”
