MUNCIE, Ind. — Convicted killer Matthew Stidham was back in town this week, continuing his pursuit for an early release from prison.
Stidham, now 51, was 17 when he participated in the robbery and slaying of Daniel Barker, a 31-year-old Eaton resident, in February 1991.
Trial testimony indicated the victim was beaten then stabbed 47 times before his body was thrown into the Mississinewa River.
Stidham — convicted of murder, robbery and criminal confinement by a Delaware Circuit Court 2 jury — was later sentenced to 138 years in prison by then-Judge Richard Dailey.
In 2020, the Indiana Supreme Court — which had upheld Stidham's convictions and sentence in 1994 — reduced his prison term by 50 years . The panel said it was reinforcing "the basic notion that juveniles are different from adults when it comes to sentencing and generally less deserving of the harshest punishment."
At a hearing Monday in Circuit Court 2, Judge Kimberly Dowling heard testimony from two Department of Correction officials who told her that Stidham, a longtime volunteer firefighter behind the walls of the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, was now that facility's fire chief.
Kevin Orme, director of construction services for the DOC, said Stidham was believed to be the only prison inmate to hold that title nationwide. At other facilities, correction officers also serve as fire chief.
"He has managed his people well," Orme said.
Both Orme and Gordon Becher, the DOC's director of fire risk management, said they had never before appeared in court to testify on behalf of an inmate.
Becher said the staff at the state prison "has a lot of trust" in Stidham.
Speaking by telephone, John Serwatka, an Indiana State Prison inmate serving a life sentence for the 1975 stabbing deaths of a brother and sister in Lake County, testified about Stidham's service as the facility's fire chief.
Stidham's brother also testified about the abuse and neglect they suffered as children.
James Garbarino, an author and psychology professor serving as an "expert" witness for Stidham, called the Delaware County man "a poster child for rehabilitation and positive transformation."
Testifying via Zoom, Garbarino said Stidham was "ready to move back into the world."
He at times clashed with Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman, who opposes releasing Stidham from prison early.
When Hoffman asked Garbarino whether he was an attorney, the witness responded by asking Hoffman whether he was a psychologist.
"I ask the questions here, doctor," the prosecutor responded.
Under cross examination, Garbarino acknowledged he was being paid — $5,000 — for his testimony, that he had spoken to Stidham once, via telephone, and that portions of his report on the case had been written before that interview.
Dowling said the hearing on Stidham's motion will continue on Aug. 9.
After Monday's hearing, Hoffman said he had tried to contact members of slaying victim Barker's family and will continue to do so. Barker's parents and siblings are deceased.
In 2016, Dowling tried to make changes to the prison sentence imposed more than two decades earlier that would have made Stidham eligible for a nearly immediate release.
However, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled she did not have the authority to modify the sentence.
"Given the brutal facts of this case, I will never consent to a sentence modification," Hoffman, then a chief deputy prosecutor, said at the time.
Changes in state law since then apparently would now make a sentence modification possible.
Without action by the judge, Stidham will apparently become eligible for release in about 2035.
Two co-defendants — both also teenagers at the time of Barker's 1991 slaying — pleaded guilty to murder charges and have since been released from prison.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Delaware County man convicted in 1991 slaying again pursues release from prison
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