A Greenwood man serving 26 years in prison for killing his infant son is asking the courts for leniency and a shorter sentence.
Ian Defenderfer, 25, filed a petition for post-conviction relief in Johnson County Superior Court 2 in February. His claim is that his attorney during the original conviction was ineffective, which violated his constitutional rights. He also said his mental illness prevented him from understanding the plea bargain he accepted.
“He’s basically claiming he received ineffective assistance of counsel,” said Joseph Sayler, a Johnson County deputy prosecutor.
Defenderfer was sentenced to 26 years in prison and four years of probation under a plea of guilty but mentally ill in 2016. He had earlier pleaded guilty to battery resulting in death on a child younger than 14 years old and aggravated battery.
Defenderfer is serving his sentence in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He filed his petition for a shorter sentence on Feb. 14.
Under Indiana law, people who believe they were sentenced or convicted of a crime erroneously can file for a petition of post-conviction relief. The petition is an alternative to filing an appeal in the case, and can be filed if a conviction or sentence is found to be unconstitutional, excessive or erroneous, or if significant evidence was not presented in trial that would merit the conviction or sentence to be overturned, Sayler said.
According to the petition, Defenderder claims that his attorney at the time coerced and threatened him to sign the plea bargain offered by prosecutors in the case. He was scared and was told that he would receive the maximum sentence if the case went to trial, he said in the petition.
Also, the petition said he did not knowingly or intentionally understand the plea bargain he signed due to mental illness.
In 2015, Defenderfer was taking care of his 2-month-old child and the baby would not stop crying, according to police reports. Defenderfer told police he had shaken the baby but did not think he was harming the child. Defenderfer called 911 after he noticed the baby’s breathing had slowed, and the infant was taken to Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health. The child died two days later, police reports said.
An autopsy determined the infant died from blunt-force trauma to the head and also had signs of shaken-baby syndrome. The baby also had bruising and healing on his head from previous injuries, police reports said.
But Defenderfer’s attorney asked the court that he be considered guilty but mentally ill, so he could receive better mental health treatment and continue rehabilitation while in prison.
The judge in the case, Cynthia Emkes, who at the time was judge in Johnson County Superior Court 2, said Defenderfer was not mentally prepared for parenthood and could not handle taking care of a child. In 2015, after he was arrested in the crime, the court ordered a doctor to evaluate Defenderfer. The doctor found him to be mentally ill.
Defenderfer appealed the original sentence in 2016, but the sentence was upheld by the appellate court, Sayler said.
Following his filing the petition for post-conviction relief, Defenderfer requested that the state public defenders office be appointed to his case, Sayler said. The state public defenders will now go through his file, research it, see if his claims have merit and advise him on it, Sayler said.
“That is not a quick process by any stretch of the imagination, so I would not anticipate this being anything resolved quickly,” he said.
