Updated: Lambermont sentenced in murder case

Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Doug Lambermont at the time of his arrest.

Doug Lambermont of Jasonville has just 12 more days to serve in the Greene County Jail before he serves a year on home detention followed by two years of probation.

Lambermont, initially charged with the murder of Derek Fulford on Labor Day in September of 2014, was convicted and sentenced in Greene Superior Court Tuesday afternoon, of battery with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony -- as a result of a negotiated plea agreement.

In a packed courtroom, speaking for the family of the victim before the sentence was officially pronounced, Derek Fulford's mother, Peggy Johnson, read a prepared letter to the court saying her son had been murdered and expressing to Lambermont that the only reason Lambermont was walking away from this was because of Fulford's past. But, she said, Lambermont had a past too.

Johnson told Lambermont that she hoped he never had to see blood flowing from one of his children the way Fulford's father had to see blood flowing from his son as he held him while he was dying. She said she hoped Lambermont never had to go see what she had -- seeing her son in the morgue and then in a casket.

Johnson said Fulford's children didn't deserve this and that the shooting had ripped apart Fulford's children's lives and the lives of many others.

Speaking directly to Lambermont, she said, "May God forgive you for killing my son."

Speaking to the people in the courtroom, she said, "You all know it was murder."

When Lambermont first appeared in court following his arrest in September, he was ordered held without bond and he has remained incarcerated while awaiting a trial by jury that was scheduled to go to court this month.

But the trial was recently canceled as a result of the negotiated plea agreement filed in Superior Court.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lambermont agreed to plead guilty to the one count of battery with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony, and the state agreed to dismiss the murder charge.

On September 4, 2014, when Lambermont was charged with felony murder and a probable cause affidavit released, then-Detective George Dallaire of the Greene County Sheriff's Department alleged that Lambermont shot Fulford four times with a Smith & Wesson .380 semi-automatic pistol. The shooting occurred late on a Monday afternoon, Labor Day, in the front yard of a residence on North Ridge Road near the southwest edge of Jasonville where Derek Fulford lived with his father and step-mother, Wayne and Suzanne Fulford.

A defense attorney from the Greene County Public Defender's Office was initially appointed to represent Lambermont but about a week later, Lambermont retained a private criminal defense attorney and Jessie A. Cook filed her appearance in the case.

After the negotiated plea agreement, signed by Lambermont, his attorney Jessie Cook and Greene County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtsclaw, was submitted to the court, Judge Dena Martin took the agreement under advisement, canceled the upcoming trial and instead ordered a pre-sentence investigation report.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was accepted by the court during Tuesday's hearing, Lambermont entered a plea of guilty to battery with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony, and was sentenced to four years in the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) with two years suspended, leaving him two actual years to serve, to be followed one year of electronically monitored home detention, then two years of probation.

Lambermont agreed to give up the handgun used in the shooting incident and he is prohibited from owning or possessing any kind of firearms or ammunition from now on.

The judge told Lambermont that as of Tuesday, he had been in jail for 260 days. Instead of the two-for-one good time credit, under the new sentencing guidelines in Indiana, Lambermont is required to serve 75 percent of his jail time leaving him not quite two weeks left to serve in jail.

In addition court fees and costs, the judge assessed a fee of $2,000 that Lambermont must pay for costs incurred by the county.

Although it was not included in the plea agreement, Lambermont's attorney said he was offering to pay for the expenses of counseling for the victim's children and to pay for 75 percent of the victim's funeral cost.

The investigation into the shooting incident began at approximately 5:20 p.m. on September 1 when the Greene County Sheriff's Department received a call from a family member reporting Derek Fulford had been shot by Lambermont.

Police, fire and ambulance personnel were dispatched and Fulford was transported to Greene County General Hospital where he was pronounced dead not long after his arrival in the emergency room.

An autopsy was conducted on the deceased by Forensic Pathologist Dr. Roland Kohr at Regional Hospital in Terre Haute the next morning.

Dr. Kohr's preliminary report listed the manner of death as homicide and the cause of death as gunshot wounds to the head and chest.

Fulford suffered four gunshot wounds, one to the head, two to the chest and one to the right arm. Dallaire reported one of the chest wounds and the head wound could both be considered lethal.

According to the investigator, Fulford and Lambermont were involved in a family feud and police had responded to another family incident earlier over the Labor Day weekend. Fulford was Lambermont's brother-in-law -- Lambermont was married to Fulford's sister.

Another incident had taken place following a family wedding on that Saturday -- a fight between Fulford and other family members. One witness said it was believed Fulford started the fight. Lambermont explained one man had received injuries during the fight and he (Lambermont) had called the police. Police responded but no arrests were made.

Prior to the shooting incident, on Monday, Fulford had sent a group text message to several family members in which he disparaged Lambermont.

Later on Monday, Lambermont and his wife (Fulford's sister) went to the Fulford residence. Fulford was inside when they entered the house. Witnesses said there was screaming and yelling. Lambermont said he left the house, and was trying to get away from Fulford, but Fulford followed him out, jumping off the porch and into the yard.

Lambermont allegedly said he was afraid of Fulford and knew if Fulford hit him like Lambermont had seen him hit other people, he would be paralyzed or dead.

Several individuals were present when the shooting took place in the yard, some inside the home and some outside on the porch or in the yard.

According to the affidavit filed in the case, witness testimony was similar regarding the basic scenario of what took place, with some variations as to who said what, but all corroborated that Fulford had not hit or touched Lambermont and Fulford was unarmed when he was shot.

If the case had gone to trial, the defense was expected to argue that Lambermont acted in self-defense when he shot Fulford.

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  • I am sure that family is furious. He had better move far far away.......

    -- Posted by happygirl14 on Tue, May 19, 2015, at 7:39 PM
  • my comment got deleted... but the one above ^^^ isn't a threat #smh sad

    -- Posted by cantheman on Wed, May 20, 2015, at 4:57 AM
  • Lambermont allegedly said he was afraid of Fulford and knew if Fulford hit him like Lambermont had seen him hit other people, he would be paralyzed or dead.

    It seems to me that this "alleged fear" is being used more and more as justification to kill another, the witnesses have said this guy came to the fulford's residence where screaming and yelling ensued and then according to Lambermont he left and Fulford followed him out into the yard where there were witnesses who said Fulford did not touch Lambermont and Fulford was unarmed. Imo, that says Fulford was not a threat except in the mind of Lambermont who claims something similar as to what another one claimed in the other murder case where one was aquited recently. If Lambermont hadn't gone over there in the first place none of this would have happened, he obviously wasn't welcome by the sound of it, it wasn't his property but the Fulfords. I don't know all the details except what is in this article but this sounds crazy to me that this plea agreement of battery with a deadly weapon was accepted. We will probably see more and more of these cases in the future.

    -- Posted by sassy12 on Wed, May 20, 2015, at 11:25 AM
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