Tabb gets 56 years for ignoring abuse
MUNCIE -- Saying Marcus Tabb was "completely unwilling to protect a 5-year-old child who could not defend or protect herself," a Delaware County judge on Monday sentenced the Muncie man to 56 years in prison.
A Circuit Court 5 jury on Oct. 30 found the 55-year-old Tabb guilty of a neglect charge stemming from the June 2013 death of young Marie Pierre, his wife's cousin.
"You owed Marie a duty to protect her from being abused, and to at least report it," Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. told Tabb, who made no formal statement before being sentenced.
The jury also found Tabb guilty of three counts of aiding, inducing or causing battery -- charges that stemmed from his wife's beatings of her three younger siblings, which Marcus Tabb recorded on video -- and three counts of neglect of a dependent, based on allegations the siblings --- then ages 16, 14 and 11 -- lived in a Brady Street house without adult supervision for several months.
Prosecutors Jeffrey Arnold and Eric Hoffman had recommended Tabb receive a maximum 78-year sentence.
"It takes a special kind of person to just stand by and watch that (abuse and neglect) happen," Arnold said.
The Delaware County prosecutor read from a letter Tabb's adult daughter had submitted to the court, saying her father appeared "so broken, stressed and haggard" in newspaper photos taken during his trial.
"If she wants to see someone in failing health... perhaps she should look at the pictures of Marie," Arnold said. A pathologist said the little girl had more than 80 cuts, bruises and burns --- in various stages of healing -- when she died, from the cumulative effect of her injuries.
Authorities said Tabb's wife, Charlene -- convicted of murder and other charges in May and later sentenced to 87 years in prison --- and two of her siblings tortured and abuse Marie in the months before her death.
Hoffman, chief trial deputy prosecutor, noted Marcus Tabb told a probation officer he was "a person who generally tries to help people with their problems."
"I almost fell off my chair when I read that," he added.
Hoffman said Tabb -- who told a probation officer he believed it was acceptable to lie when protecting family members -- "thinks it's OK to lie if you're covering up things for your murderous wife."
Defense attorney Ross Thomas said there was not evidence his client "was aware of the barbarous nature of these other people and all the things that they did."
"While there was a heinous crime here, Mr. Tabb's crime of not seeking medical attention and not stepping in was not particularly heinous," he added.
Testimony indicated Charlene Tabb's siblings and Marie moved from Florida to live with the Tabbs in Muncie in the summer of 2012.
After being sentenced, Tabb told Judge Cannon he intended to appeal his convictions.
Cannon agreed to appoint a public defender to pursue the appeal, but told Tabb he might request a lien against five Muncie properties still owned by the defendant, to eventually compensate taxpayers.
Tabb -- who remodeled and then "flipped" homes for a living -- told the judge he was not certain of the tax status of some of those properties.
He also said a baseball card collection he valued at $20,000 had "vanished" in the wake of his arrest.
Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.