Court rejects Bassett appeal on conspiracy conviction

The Indiana Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal for a man convicted of conspiring to kill a deputy prosecutor while he was serving life in prison for the 1998 slayings of a Seymour woman and three children.

The decision exhausts Robert Bassett Jr.'s direct appeals options and leaves his 80-year sentence intact. Bassett had asked the high court to hear his case after the state Court of Appeals affirmed his sentence in April.

He was convicted of plotting to kill Kathleen Burns, who was the lead prosecutor on his quadruple murder case.

A Bartholomew Superior Court judge had sentenced Bassett in May 2007 to the maximum 50 years for the conspiracy count and added 30 years for being a habitual offender.

At the time, Bassett was already serving four life prison sentences without possibility of parole in the killings of Seymour resident Jamie Engleking, 20; her two children, Jessica Brown, 2, and Brandon Engleking, 1; and 12-year-old family friend Amanda Davis.

Bassett was convicted of those killings in May 2006 in Dearborn County. An earlier conviction was overturned.
 
Bassett's appeal said that evidence of the quadruple homicide was unfairly prejudicial, hearsay testimony was allowed during the trial, insufficient evidence was provided and his attorney was ineffective.

According to the order June 19, the Supreme Court justices had reviewed the Court of Appeals decision and declined to hear the case.
 
The victims of the quadruple murder were last seen alive on Aug. 15, 1998, during a camping trip in southern Bartholomew County. Their remains were found about a month later in shallow graves along the East Fork of the White River.