Judd Michael Hopkins v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), 84A01-1706-CR-1456

Between Aug. 11, 2015 and June 2, 2016, Judd Hopkins frequently molested K.B., his girlfriend’s daughter, who was five to six years old; acts included forcible sexual intercourse despite K.B. asking him to stop.
K.B. later presented with genital pain and a lesion and was diagnosed with genital herpes; the exact transmission source was unclear.
The State charged Hopkins with two counts of Level 1 child molesting and one count of Level 4; Hopkins pleaded guilty to one Level 1 count in exchange for dismissal of the others and a cap of 30 years’ executed imprisonment.
The trial court imposed a 30-year executed sentence (the advisory term) and found four aggravators: greater-than-required harm, criminal history, recent probation violation, and Hopkins’s custodial position over K.B.
Hopkins argued the court abused its discretion by not finding remorse and prior victimization as mitigators and separately argued his 30-year sentence was inappropriately harsh.
The Court of Appeals affirmed, rejecting both the abuse-of-discretion and appropriateness challenges.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial court abused discretion by not finding remorse a mitigating factor	State: court properly evaluated credibility and need not credit perfunctory apology	Hopkins: his apology at sentencing showed remorse meriting mitigation	Court: no abuse; apology was perfunctory, timing and demeanor justified rejecting remorse
Whether trial court abused discretion by not finding prior victimization mitigating	State: troubled childhood generally warrants little mitigation	Hopkins: prior sexual victimization should mitigate punishment	Court: no abuse; record support for victimization was limited and child‑abuse history carries little mitigating weight; could be aggravating
Whether 30-year sentence is inappropriate under App. R. 7(B)	State: sentence within advisory range and justified by offense severity and offender's record	Hopkins: sentence is unduly harsh given plea and alleged remorse/prior victimization	Court: affirmed; nature of crime and Hopkins’s criminal history make 30 years appropriate

Anglemyer v. State, 868 N.E.2d 482 (Ind. 2007) (sets required sentencing‑statement framework and abuse‑of‑discretion standard)
Pickens v. State, 767 N.E.2d 530 (Ind. 2002) (trial court best positioned to judge sincerity of remorse)
Coleman v. State, 741 N.E.2d 697 (Ind. 2000) (troubled childhood warrants little mitigating weight)
Loveless v. State, 642 N.E.2d 974 (Ind. 1994) (declining to treat childhood molestation as significant mitigation)
Cardwell v. State, 895 N.E.2d 1219 (Ind. 2008) (standards for appellate appropriateness review under App. R. 7(B))