Attorney general says convicted killer's 65-year sentence appropriate
Jul. 9—NEW ALBANY — The Indiana Attorney General's Office has filed a court document opposing a sentence modification for a man serving 65 years for killing his wife and dismembering her body in New Albany in 2020. However, the Indiana Court of Appeals has not yet ruled on the matter.
Judson Hoover, 50, pleaded guilty in October to strangling his wife, Rebecca Hoover, and stomping on her head multiple times in front of one of the couple's three children Aug. 2. He filed for divorce the following day, and told the court his wife had a problem with drugs, was abusive to him and the children, and would often leave the house for extended periods of time.
Her partially mutilated body was found more than three weeks later in a storage unit Hoover rented, after the child who witnessed the mother's death told a school counselor.
Hoover pleaded guilty to murder in Floyd County the same day the charge was filed, and in November was sentenced to 65 years in prison.
"Rebecca Hoover wasn't just murdered," Floyd County Superior Court No. 1 Judge Susan Orth said on the day of sentencing. "She was brutalized...her body was mutilated and treated as refuse."
Hoover filed an appellate brief in May, the document stating that the court had failed to give enough weight to his swift guilty plea. It also stated that he was was abused as a child.
The attorney general's response filed this week points to the nature of the killing along with Hoover's violent history as reasons the sentence should stay as it is. When Rebecca died, Hoover was out on bond for domestic battery and strangulation in the presence of a minor; the same child who witnessed her death had witnessed that abuse.
"The nature of the offense was egregious," it reads, in part. "Hoover brutally murdered his wife in front of their 8-year-old child, kept the body hidden for a month, filed for divorce the day after murdering her and further attempted to flee and hide evidence after police initially searched his home.
"Hoover's character, including history of violence and lack of remorse for the murder, demonstrate that the sentence is appropriate."
The brief also states that Hoover pleading guilty as soon as he was charged doesn't deserve much consideration, since he had spent a month before that hiding the crime and considering ways to dispose of Rebecca's body, including setting her remains on fire or throwing them in the river.
"This is not a case where a defendant's cooperation with the state evidenced an acceptance or responsibility or was particularly helpful in solving a crime," it reads. "The record shows that Hoover murdered his wife on August 2 and then hid her body in a storage unit which enabled him to evade police for nearly a month."
