By Olivia Covington
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS — A bill aimed at preventing suicides among military members is expected to pass the U.S. Senate this week.

Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., authored the Jacob Sexton Military Prevention Suicide Act of 2014 because he believes the U.S. military needs to improve its mental health screening system.

“This will be a major step forward, because it will make mental health screening a requirement for all service members, every year,” Donnelly said. “We must do a better job of identifying those who are struggling with challenges.”

The act has three main components. First, it will require yearly mental health screenings for active military members, as well as members of the guard and reserve. Right now screenings are only required for active members.

The second part of the bill focuses on the protection of privacy for soldiers who ask for help with their mental health problems.

“We must ensure that seeking help isn’t considered a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of strength,” Donnelly said.

Finally, the bill would require the Pentagon to look at existing mental health screening and treatment options for military members and issue a report on ways to improve the system. That report would be due within a year of the bill becoming law.

The Jacob Sexton Act is part of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. The House passed the bill last week and Donnelly said he thinks the Senate could vote on it as early as Friday.

Donnelly also said he thinks President Barack Obama will sign the bill into law “very, very quickly” — most likely before the end of the year.

In 2013, 475 soldiers lost their lives to suicide, compared to 132 who were killed in combat.

In the first quarter of this year, 120 military members had already committed suicide.

“It’s become such an overwhelming issue, in terms of the numbers and the stark reality of, we lost four times more to suicide than in combat just last year,” Donnelly said.

Jacob Sexton was among the soldiers in 2009 who chose to end their lives. He was home in Farmland, Ind. on a 15-day-leave from Afghanistan when he shot himself in a Muncie movie theatre. He was 21-years-old.

Sexton’s family worked with Donnelly to create the bill in his honor.

“We owe it to the Sexton family, to Jake Sexton, to families across Indiana and across the country to make sure the numbers are reduced,” he said, “and that we can get them down to zero.”

Olivia Covington is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

Jennifer Nelson for www.theindianalawyer.com

In a case of first impression, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the 55-year sentence imposed on a juvenile waived into adult court for the murder of a friend. The teen claimed he should have been sentenced under the alternative sentencing scheme available for juveniles.

Then 16-year-old Donta Legg and an unidentified person went to the home of Darren Kirk, who was a friend of Legg. Kirk went on the porch with Legg and the other person and got into a physical altercation with the man. The unidentified person pulled a gun out of his waistband, gave it to Legg and told him to shoot Kirk. Legg shot Kirk once, who stumbled inside and died.

Kirk was shot in front of his 17-year-old brother and while his 2-year-old brother was home.

Legg was waived into adult court and convicted of felony murder and Class A misdemeanor carrying a handgun without a license. The trial court denied his request to issue a sentence under the alternative sentencing scheme for juvenile offenders, finding the nature of the offense and that Legg’s character rendered sentencing under that scheme unsuitable.

“This appears to be a case of first impression, as we have been unable to find other cases interpreting the alternative sentencing statute. The statute itself offers no guidance regarding when the alternative sentencing
scheme should be implemented. It is well established that the purpose of the juvenile justice system is rehabilitation so that the juvenile will not become a criminal as an adult,” Judge John Baker wrote in Donta Legg v. State of Indiana, 49A02-1404-CR-279.

The alternative sentencing scheme under I.C. 31-30-4-2 provides that a court may impose an alternative sentence for the juvenile based on certain conditions, but imposition is not mandatory.

“When the alternative sentencing statute applies, as it does here, a trial court may choose to apply it, the necessary corollary being that it may also choose not to apply it,” Baker wrote. The judges found the factors outlined as to when the juvenile court may waive jurisdiction over a juvenile offender to be instructive, although trial courts are not required to consider those factors nor is the state required to prove those factors in order to warrant the implementation of the alternative sentencing scheme.

“We acknowledge that Legg is a young offender. We also acknowledge that Legg has been faced with many obstacles in his short life. But we must also consider the nature of the crime he committed here. He took the life of another person — a friend — in the presence of that person’s family. He has already shown a propensity for skipping school and breaking the law. Under these circumstances, we do not think that the advisory term of fifty-five years is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offenses and Legg’s character.”