Nov 4, 2006 3:45 pm US/Central
Indiana Serial Killer Sentenced To 245 Years
Portage Man Already Serving 100 Years Plus Life Sentence
VALPARAISO, Ind. (Post-Tribune) ―
Eleven years to the day after
Eugene Victor Britt was arrested by
Portage, Ind., police for the murder of 8-year-old Sarah Paulsen, he was sentenced to 245 years in prison for three murders and a rape.
Britt, who turns 49 on Saturday, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the murder and rape of Maxine Walker, 41, of Gary, Nakita Moore, 14, of Gary, and Tonya Dunlap, 23, of Knox, and the rape of a 14-year-old girl, all in 1995.
Moore's sister, Veda Robinson of Gary, said Britt robbed them of seeing the youngest sibling enter her freshman year of high school and attend the prom. "Every day I work I feed his behind," she said.
Another of Britt's victims, Debra McHenry, 40, at one time lived next door to Britt and played with him when they were children. McHenry was mentally challenged.
Some of the family members of Britt's victims have battled addictions and mental illness in the aftermath of their losses.Deputy Prosecutor John Burke said the cases involving "almost unspeakably horrendous crimes" have been time-consuming. "I want justice for these people," Burke said.
Lake Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez, who imposed the sentence, ruled in September that Britt was mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty.
"You deserve to be in prison for the rest of your life," Vasquez said. "You deserve to die in prison."
Several people in the gallery responded with, "Amen!"
Britt, who at times shook and cried as he sat in his wheelchair, the result of a botched suicide attempt 11 years ago when he threw himself in front of a train, said he regretted his crimes.
"I'm just sorry. I'm truly sorry for my sins and I take full responsibility for my actions -- ain't nobody but myself. God knows I'm guilty. God knows I'm guilty."
Britt then launched into a rambling 15-minute speech about how people in the jail were "playing games on him," messing with his food and punishing him. At times his voice rose to a shouting level. "I don't listen to those evil voices when they talk to me all the time," he said.
Defense attorney Gojko Kasich, who represented Britt during the six and one-half years the Lake County cases were pending, asked Vasquez to recommend that Britt be held in isolation.
Vasquez, however, said his order will read that Kasich made the request. Britt will be housed in a maximum-security prison, Vasquez said.
As he was wheeled from the courtroom, Britt shouted, "God loves me, too."
Britt already is serving a life sentence plus 100 years for the strangulation of Sarah Paulsen of Portage.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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