Man convicted of shooting 2 US judges in street dispute
Brandon Kaiser convicted of aggravated battery, multiple battery-related charges
Indianapolis: A man who shot and wounded two southern Indiana judges outside an Indianapolis fast food restaurant in 2019 was convicted Wednesday on seven of eight felonies and one misdemeanor after a three-day trial.
A jury convicted Brandon Kaiser of aggravated battery, multiple battery-related charges and carrying a handgun without a license. He was acquitted on one count of battery resulting in moderate bodily injury.
David Margerum, Kaiser's attorney, told WRTV-TV that Kaiser was taken into custody after the verdict. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 21.
Clark County Circuit judges Brad Jacobs and Andrew Adams were shot during the early morning hours of May 1, 2019 in the parking lot of a downtown White Castle restaurant. Another judge, Sabrina Bell of Crawford County, was with Jacobs and Adams at the time.
Kaiser claimed he was acting in self-defense against the group of judges, who were in town for a conference, and court documents claimed Bell flipped off Kaiser and his nephew.
Adams accepted a plea agreement to plead guilty to battery resulting in bodily injury in September 2019. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to dismiss six additional charges against the judge. He received a suspended sentence of 365 days.
The Indiana Commission of Judicial Qualifications filed disciplinary charges against the three judges involved. Jacobs and Bell were reinstated to the bench in December of that year after serving 30-day suspensions. Adams was ordered to serve a 60-day suspension.
Bell resigned from the bench on July 15 after the Indiana Supreme Court suspended her when a special prosecutor filed felony charges against her related to a domestic dispute.