Wilburn sentenced to 37 years without probation for shooting son-in-law and endangering grandchildren
Sep. 26—Mark Wilburn, 57, sat impassively Monday as he was sentenced to 37 years in prison for attempting to murder his son-in-law in front of his grandchildren.
That could be a life sentence, considering his age, Wilburn's attorney said.
His wife and daughters gasped, and then wept, as Boone Circuit Court Judge Lori Schein pronounced the sentence.
Schein said she found no mitigating circumstances that would reduce his sentence. But she found his endangering two of his grandchildren when he shot their father to be an aggravating circumstance.
Two young children were in a pickup truck with their father, Michael Maxwell, and their mother was holding their third child outside of the truck when Wilburn pointed the gun at Maxwell's head and fired — execution style.
Maxwell swatted at the gun and was instead shot in his neck and shoulder area. Maxwell left the truck and Wilburn chased him and fired again, but the gun jammed.
Maxwell and his wife were estranged, and he'd gone to her home in Hoosier Estates Mobile Home Park in Lebanon to pick up the children for his visitation. Wilburn and his wife, Melina Wilburn, were apparently upset over comments Maxwell had made about him to Indiana Child Protective Services, according to testimony.
Maxwell survived but was not in the courtroom for the sentencing. His grandmother, Barbara Hale, spoke on his behalf.
"I can't image that someone would have so much hate for someone that they would do what he did," Hale said. "And in front of those little children — his grandchildren."
The children have been to numerous counseling appointments, suffer nightmares, and rarely speak of their grandfather since that night in January 2020, Hale said. When they must mention him, they call him "Mark," she said.
Several members of Wilburn's family spoke on his behalf.
"He's a good man," Wilburn's wife told Schein, while weeping. "He's a very good father and son, a good provider for us."
Turning to face her husband who was seated at the defendant's table, she said, "I love you."
Pamela Bischoff, Wilburn's sister, recalled the time his mobile home caught fire. "He made it out, and his wife didn't," Bischoff said. "She was inside screaming, and my brother walked through fire to save her, and they both made it out ... They both got badly burned ... A monster wouldn't do that ... I do want you to know the man he really is, and we all need him in our lives."
"We love him," Wilburn's daughter, Ashly Finkney, said. "We miss him, and we don't want him to go away for a long time. I'm scared that he's not going to make it home again, ever."
A jury found Wilburn guilty of several charges in August, but Schein dismissed the lesser charges and sentenced him only for attempted murder and two counts of criminal recklessness regarding the children.
Boone County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Craig Olsinski and Major Felony Prosecutor TK Morris asked that Schein order Wilburn to serve 40 years for the attempted murder charge, rather than the 30 years presumptive sentence.
The prosecutors said Wilburn's criminal history, pattern of drug abuse, endangering his grandchildren, and violating the terms of his house arrest were aggravators. Wilburn committed a burglary just before his 18th birthday. He committed battery and theft in 2014 and has a pending case of resisting law enforcement and driving while suspended filed in December of 2020 in Madison County.
Defense attorney Randy Fisher argued that Wilburn faces significant health challenges. A mental health evaluation before the trial showed he had unspecified psychosis, and cannabis and diazepam use disorder. He began abusing substances at age 10 and continued throughout his life. He is also diabetic.
Wilburn did not speak for himself.
He was at first released from the Boone County Jail on bond after the shooting but has been held there since October of 2021 after Schein found that he repeatedly broke the rules stipulated for his home detention and that he was still a threat to the victim.
She sentenced him to 35 years with the Indiana Department of Correction for attempted murder and added one year each for the criminal recklessness charges, for a total of 37 years.
His family said farewell over the courtroom rail and did not follow outside to see him loaded into the police van that drove him away.
Wilburn will be credited for time served. But he will not be allowed the possibility of probation since he didn't comply with the terms for home detention.
