*** MEDIA ADVISORY***

December 30, 2013

TERRY L. SHEETS, JR. RECEIVES THIRTY YEAR SENTENCE FOR SHOOTING

Media Contact:  Curtis T. Hill, Jr.  (574) 296-1888

     On Thursday, December 12, 2013, Terry L. Sheets, Jr., twenty-six (26), of 2801 Toledo Road, Elkhart, received a thirty (30) year sentence

from Circuit Court Judge Terry Shewmaker, as a result of Sheets pleading guilty to Voluntary Manslaughter, a class A felony and Criminal

Recklessness While Armed with a Deadly Weapon, a class D felony. 

     Sheets' charges arose from an incident which occurred on April 20, 2012 at an apartment where Sheets, his ex-girlfriend and victim,

Matthew Bark, were residing.  After becoming intoxicated, Sheets was involved in a fight with Matthew Bark inside the residence.  Upon the

conclusion of the fight, Sheets obtained a .45 caliber handgun from the kitchen and confronted Matthew Bark who was in a bedroom

inside the residence.  Due to having no means of escape from the bedroom and being confronted by Sheets with a handgun, Matthew

Bark retrieved a shotgun from the bedroom to defend himself.  After a brief standoff, Sheets shot his handgun at Matthew Bark five (5)

times, striking Bark twice in the stomach.  One of the bullets fired by Sheets went through a wall into the bedroom of an adjacent

apartment where it narrowly missed striking two (2) sleeping children.

     At the sentencing hearing, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joel Williams pointed out senselessness of the Sheets' actions, as Sheets, in

an intoxicated state, needlessly escalated a situation with a handgun. 

     Sheets will serve twenty (20) of his thirty (30) year sentence at the Indiana Department of Correction.  Upon his release, Sheets will be

required to serve ten (10) years on reporting probation.

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Under Indiana law, all persons arrested for a criminal offense are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.