19 year old Gauvin M.J. Monaghan of Watertown, NY appeared in Marshall Superior Court I Monday morning wearing an orange jumpsuit, shackled with only his right hand free.
Monaghan has been in the Marshall County Jail since January 4, 2017 on charges of Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Burglary, Auto Theft, and Theft in the case of (Richard) Paul Costello from November 5, 2016.
Marshall County Judge Robert Bowen was presented with a plea agreement where Monaghan would plead guilty to count 2 Murder in exchange for the dismissal of counts 1, 3, 4 and 5.
The soft spoken teen was represented by Public Defender Marc Morrison. He told Judge Bowen that he had read and understood the plea agreement.
Judge Bowen told his Monaghan he had the right to a trail and that his trial was scheduled to begin on December 12th. If he pleads guilty to the Murder charge he would waive his right to a trail. Monaghan was also told the charge of Murder has a sentence of 45 to 65 years in Indiana and with the 75% good behavior credit he could serve from 33 years 9 months to 48 year and 9 months in the Indiana Department of Corrections along with a fine of $1.00 to $10,000.00. Bowen asked if he wanted to plead guilty to the Murder charge and Monaghan said yes.
Sentencing for Gauvin Monaghan was set for December 13th.
The second suspect in the Costello murder case, Maeson Coffin has a jury trial set to being on January 30, 2018. The Prosecutor’s office will begin more intense discussions on a possible plea with Coffin.
