The Indiana Court of Appeals recently rejected several appeals, including last month for a Gary man’s child molesting conviction.
Patrick Comiskey, Jr, then 25, was sentenced Nov. 20 to 27 years, plus five more on probation in a plea deal for sexually abusing two girls in a house where he lived with their parents.
Charging documents allege in 2020 he fondled one girl under a blanket in a basement while “wrestling” with her. The girl’s brother caught what was happening and smashed a metal bottle over Comiskey’s head as he walked upstairs.
During the same period, Comiskey raped another young girl knowing he was HIV-positive, court records show. Both preteen girls called him “Uncle P.J.”
In the appeal, Comiskey argued his sentence was too harsh and that the judge improperly didn’t use his lack of criminal history as a mitigator to soften his prison time.
In a 3-0 decision on May 29, Appeals Court Judge Melissa May rejected this.
She wrote that the police investigation found Comiskey may have been sexually abusing the latter victim for up to 13 months — which showed a criminal mindset, a sentencing factor allowed under Indiana law.
Since the allegations were already so dire, not factoring in the lack of an arrest history was “harmless,” May said.
Lake Superior Judge Gina Jones specifically noted the allegations were “gruesome” and “heinous,” which helped to lay out her sentence, May wrote in the 11-page decision.
Other recent notable appeals:
Paul Jarosik
Jarosik, now 40, of Schererville, got 60 years in April 2023 for murder for killing his girlfriend Michelle Brown, 46, in April 2020.
He appealed on three points — that the court didn’t allow jurors to consider reckless homicide, he contested Brown’s texts and her friend’s testimony, and said there wasn’t enough evidence to convict.
In a 3-0 decision on May 24, Appeals Court Judge Dana Kenworthy rejected his appeal.
Kenworthy wrote it was fine that the jury didn’t have the option to convict on reckless homicide, a lesser charge, because Jarosik flat out denied killing Brown in the first place.
“Jarosik did not claim Brown’s death was an accident or that he recklessly dealt the fatal blows to her head. Instead, Jarosik maintained he did not cause Brown’s death at all,” she wrote.
At trial, prosecutors admitted contested evidence including texts between Brown and her sister and a friend who testified she saw the couple get into physical fights from 2015 to 2018. Kenworthy wrote it was backed up by other evidence. Jarosik admitted himself that their relationship was volatile and neighbors heard him threaten to hurt her.
Ultimately, there was enough evidence for his conviction, she wrote.
Frank Zyzanski
Zyzanski, 62, of Merrillville, got 65 years in September 2023 for killing his former daughter-in-law Crystal Marie Zyzanski, 29, in 2020.
In a 3-0 decision on May 8, Appeals Court Judge Nancy Vaidik wrote there was enough evidence to prove he knowingly shot her.
Matthew Setlak
Setlak, 42, of Hobart, got 120 years in September 2023 for molesting 4-year-old friend’s daughter, who he babysat.
In a 3-0 decision on April 26, Appeals Court Judge Elizabeth Tavitas wrote Setlak’s trial rights weren’t violated when prosecutors were allowed to admit the victim’s out-of-court statements to her mom, under the Protected Person Statute.
Joe Chuck Pittman
Pittman, then 30, of Chicago, was sentenced to 94 years in February 2023 for various felonies including murder, armed robbery and burglary in 18-year-old Alayna Ortiz’s Jan. 9, 2019 slaying.
She was killed in a car during a stickup targeting Ortiz’s boyfriend, a marijuana dealer. Their friend Giovante Galloway pitched the robbery, while his uncle Juarez Rogers brought in Pittman and Elrice Williams as muscle.
A fifth person implicated, Joshua Wright, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Illinois a month after Ortiz’s death. Pittman’s gun jammed, while Williams’ gun killed Ortiz.
In a 3-0 decision issued April 25, Appeals Court Judge Cale Bradford upheld Pittman’s conviction. He rejected his arguments that the court infringed on his rights by not allowing him to represent himself and overstepped by allowing evidence of gang affiliation introduced at trial.
Bradford also ruled it wasn’t double jeopardy, since several things were going on at once — the men were trying to rob everyone in the car, then went to the boyfriend’s house after the shooting to burglarize it.
