Sebastian Wedding, 25, is pictured in a mug shot. He was sentenced to 55 years in prison on Monday after reaching a plea deal in the stabbing deaths of three people in Indiana
A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 55 years in prison after reaching a plea deal in the stabbing deaths of three people in northwestern Indiana.
Sebastian Wedding was convicted in the deaths of Justin L. Babbs, 20, Richard Thomas, 23, and Kimberly Spears, 39 after a botched robbery on August 28, 2016.
The bodies of the three victims were found stabbed multiple times in a home in Sumava Resorts, Indiana, about 35 miles south of Gary.
The investigation began after an 80-year-old woman, who lived at the residence and was unharmed, found Babbs bleeding on the living room couch and went for help.
The two other victims were found in a bedroom.
Wedding said he was ‘sorry for everything that happened,’ before learning his punishment on Monday in Newton County Superior Court in Kentland, Indiana.
Justin L. Babbs, 20, was a father of two. He and two other victims were found stabbed to death in a home following a botched robbery on August 28, 2016
Richard Thomas, 23, was found in the bedroom of the home where the murders occurred
Kimberly Spears, 39, was a mother of three. She was also found in the bedroom at the home
The bodies of the three victims were found by an 80-year-old woman who was unharmed un the home shown above
Wedding agreed to plead guilty to two counts of murder, according to the Post-Tribune.
In exchange for the plea, he avoided a possible sentence of life without parole.
About 50 people filled the courtroom Monday during the emotional sentencing, according to the Post Tribune.
Some of Babbs’ family and friends wore red shirts and wristbands that said ‘#Justice4JustinIN.’
A handful of family and friends attended on behalf of Wedding, who was dressed in an orange jumpsuit with a brown bulletproof vest.
His defense attorney Robert Monfort asked the court: ‘I ask straight up, is he a wolf or a sheep?’
He went on to say that Wedding had a troubled past, didn’t like violence and turned his pain inward rather than toward others.
‘I am convinced you did not want this to happen,’ the judge said.
While the judge said Wedding had minimal criminal history and trauma in his past, ‘that’s all the mercy that is due in this case.’
Family and friends who spoke on behalf of Babbs, Thomas and Spears asked that Wedding receive the maximum sentence allowed in the deal, 60 years in prison.
‘I can only hope that you do not survive in prison,’ Babbs’ grandmother Donna Dillingham said to Wedding.
Alicia White, the mother of Babbs’ daughter and his ‘soulmate’ took the stand with a photo of his two children.
‘Every night she would wake up screaming, not just for her dad, but that they’d come for her next,’ White said.
His father Rick Babbs read an emotional letter for Babbs’ mother that read, ‘Grief lasts forever because love lasts forever.’
Wedding’s co-defendant, Derrick Cardosi, 25, is scheduled for trial in January on charges of murder, auto theft, and assisting a criminal
A family friend of 23-year-old Thomas said his family gone through a lot with his death. Thomas ‘would do anything for anyone,’ she said. ‘This is just so unfair.’
On behalf of Spears, a mother of three, childhood friend Tracy Guzman said’Sixty years is not enough time.’
Wedding was also charged for taking Thomas’ 1997 Mercury, his Playstation, an electronic tablet with a cracked screen and black and red Nike Air Jordan shoes, according to court documents.
Wedding’s co-defendant, Derrick Cardosi, 25, is scheduled for trial in January on charges of murder, auto theft, theft and assisting a criminal after he pleaded not guilty in December.