Man pled guilty to shooting woman twice in front of their son at a Princeton restaurant
By Richard Gootee
Evansville Courier & Press
PRINCETON, Ind. (AP) — Just days after Jesica Tice’s former boyfriend was sentenced to 70 years in prison for killing her in the parking lot of a Princeton restaurant, Tice’s family and friends remembered the anniversary of the Gibson County woman’s death by raising money for domestic violence awareness.
“She was fun-loving, a good mother and always there for her sons,” Tice’s mother, Rita Dougan, told the Evansville Courier & Press. “She always out on the ball field with them. She played both mother and father to all three of her boys. She was always bubbly, energetic never tired, at least she wouldn’t let you ever know that she was tired.”
Since her daughter’s death, Dougan has become active in domestic violence prevention efforts.
The 34-year-old Tice was gunned down in the parking lot of a Princeton restaurant on May 22, 2013, after a celebratory lunch with one of her sons to mark his middle school graduation.
Jason Perry, 32, pleaded guilty to the crime in April and was sentenced earlier this month to 70 years in prison. Authorities said Perry, who is also the father of the boy who was celebrating his graduation, shot Tice twice in front of their son, Logan Tice, and Dougan as the three of them left the restaurant. Before the shooting, Dougan said, Perry had come into the restaurant and threatened the group.
During the sentencing hearing in a Posey County courtroom, where the case moved on a change of venue, Logan Tice, now 14, told the court that Perry was a stalker who beat his mother. Another son and Jesica Tice’s brother also submitted testimony that claimed Perry had often physically abused Jesica Tice after moving back to the area in late 2012.
However, Perry did not have any previous convictions relating to violence toward Tice. He was arrested a couple weeks before her killing for an alleged incident, but prosecutors filed criminal enhancement charges against Perry for previous criminal convictions, including burglary, theft, battery with serious bodily injury and a burglary charge in 2006 that did not involve Tice.
Dougan said she’s not happy with Perry’s punishment. Had the case gone to trial, Perry could have gotten life without parole. Prosecutors had briefly considered pursuing the death penalty against Perry.
“I was afraid that was the way it was going to work out all along,” Dougan said about Perry’s sentence. “I just didn’t want him to be able to get out in her children’s lifetime. I didn’t feel like they had to go through this fear for the rest of their lives, and that’s what he’s able to do now.”
Dougan said she wishes the death penalty would have been pursued and was at least hoping that Perry would not have the chance of ever leaving prison. Under the accepted agreement, Perry could be released from prison in about 35 years. If that happens, Tice’s sons will still be in their late 40s and early 50s.
Since her daughter’s death, the 60-year-old Dougan said she has made raising domestic violence awareness and toughening laws against abusers one of her causes. She has put on a few fundraisers and also appeared in a public service television ad for Evansville’s Albion Fellows Bacon Center. That ad ran in October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Candice Perry, the executive director of the Albion Fellows Bacon Center, said it’s common for long-term abuse to go unreported or under reported to law enforcement like in Tice’s case.
“What we see, what we experience, is that the cycle of domestic violence has played out so many times before it ever (gets) to the point where law enforcement becomes involved, whether that’s the victim reaching out or a bystander reaching out to support that person. By the time that happens, it has played out so many times before,” she said.
Dougan said she did not know about the alleged incidents between Tice and Jason Perry until after Tice’s death. She was careful to say, though, she does not want her daughter’s friends to feel in any part responsible for Tice’s death, but Dougan also urged those who think domestic violence is going on to report it.
“I think the victims, Jesie included, are so afraid. He was threatening to kill me — come in my house while I slept and shoot me. He was threatening to shoot her three boys. She was terrified,” Dougan said. “The best way I can tell you to protect others is for friends to go to authorities, and back up that person and be a strong friend for that person to lean on. Many, many times the victim is too afraid. That’s all I really want to do: save more girls, save more people.”
