EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- A couple that duct-taped their 2-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter to chairs in their apartment for more than nine hours have pleaded guilty a variety of charges and face a May sentencing.
Brian K. Shiver 26, and Martina M. Shiver, 25, were charged with two counts of criminal confinement, two counts of neglect of a dependent, two counts of battery resulting in bodily injury and obstructing justice, all felonies.
They were arrested Feb. 25 after an off-duty Evansville Police Department detective, working security at their apartment complex, found the two children bound by box packing tape to chairs from their chests to below their waists with hands and legs immobilized by the tape.
The children were taken into the custody of the state.
In return for his guilty plea to all of the charges, Brian Shiver's sentence could be capped at six years for the confinement and neglect charges, which were C felonies and the most serious charges he faced.
Because the sentences for all seven charges will run concurrently, if the judge accepts the agreement next month, the most Brian Shiver would serve is six years. However, that is just two years less than the maximum eight-year sentence suggested by the state.
Martina Shiver was charged identically to her husband. However, she only agreed to plead guilty to two charges of criminal confinement, also C felonies. She did not change her plea on the remaining charges. Because there was no written plea agreement, it will be left for a judge to decide her sentence length.
Mark Wilson is a reporter for The Evansville Courier in Indiana.
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