Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 19, Number 6, DeMotte, Jasper County, 7 January 1949 — Sentences Of Bank Robbers Are Commuted [ARTICLE]

Sentences Of Bank Robbers Are Commuted

Governor Gates Reduces Botwinski, Sink Terms to 12 1-2 Years —i—Pair Robbed DeMotte Bank John Botwinski and Thomas W. Sink, participants in the armed robbery of DeMotte State bank in 1937, are within eighteen month of gaining their freedom from the state penitentiary that has held them since January 27, 1938, on which date they were sentenced to 65 years’ imprisonment by Judge Moses Leopold in Jasper circuit court. The near approach of the pair’s freedom is- the result of action this week by Governor Gates in approving by his signature a recent recommendation by the state clemency board that the terms of the pair be reduced to 12 years and six months. A copy of the proceedings reached Jasper circuit court this forenoon. The commutation of sentence will liberate the men on July 27, 1950. After hearing themselves sentenced in 1938 to what was tantamount to life terms, Botwinski and Sinks received commutation of their sentences to 20 years on September 13, 1943, as a result of action by the appelafb court, court. Botwinski, a Chicago felon, was captured in his Chicago home, and Sink, a callow youth at the time, was seized at his home near Roselawn. Since entering * prison Sink learned the barber trade and has worked as a prison barber. He plans to operate a barbershop upson his release. Botwinski had a criminal record prior to hi!s conviction on the bank robbery charge.