Jack Daniels

WARSAW — A Warsaw man faced sentencing on three separate cases today, Feb. 2, in Superior Court I after pleading guilty to battery and intimidation.

Jack Daniels, 34, 340 East Levi Lee Road, Warsaw, was sentenced on battery on a person less than 14 years old stemming from an incident in September 2015, a level 5 felony, an intimidation charge from a February 2016 incident, a level 5 felony, and failure to appear, a level 6 felony. Daniels had previously pled guilty to the three charges.

On Sept. 4, 2015, an officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department met with the mother of the juvenile victim who advised that on Sept. 2, Daniels was babysitting for the juvenile when he became upset and threw a chunk of ice at the victim. The victim was hit just above the left eye, causing a laceration, swelling and bruising to the eye socket.

According to the parent, the following day Daniels became angry at the juvenile because he had removed keys from the laptop. Daniels hit the juvenile in the upper torso and head, along with hitting the juvenile on top of the head with the laptop. The mother observed the battery and had to forcibly stop Daniels from hitting the child.

Feb. 15, 2016 Warsaw Police Department officers responded to a battery call. When officers arrived, the female victim stated that she and Daniels were watching a movie together when they began to argue. During the argument, Daniels became angry and punched the victim’s left side of her face. Daniels then grabbed a pocket knife and told her, “B****, I will finish you.”

Daniels then grabbed the victim and threw her into a cabinet, causing a cut on her head. Daniels again grabbed her and used the back of his hand to hit her face. Officers observed and took photographs of the victim’s injuries. She had a cut on her head, a bruise on her shoulder and a cut on her right shoulder blade.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katy Hampton advised the court to give Daniels the maximum allowed sentence of 7 years, stating the pre-sentence investigation was very telling regarding Daniels’s history with the courts. Hampton stated that the state was concerned with the escalation of Daniels’s violent crimes.

Daniels’s attorney Matthew Buehler also acknowledged Daniels’s past, stating, “What the courts have done…clearly haven’t worked.” Buehler spoke on behalf of Daniels, claiming that substance abuse was the underlying factor to his criminal history.

Judge David Cates sentenced Daniels to three years in the Indiana Department of Corrections for count I battery on a person less than 14 years old, three years in the DOC for count I intimidation and one year in the DOC for count I failure to appear.

The three sentences are to be served consecutively. Judge Cates is making a recommendation that Daniels be able to serve his sentence in the Purposeful Incarceration program.

“I expect a spotless record while you’re in the Department of Corrections,” Judge Cates told Daniels.

Daniels will receive 83 days jail time credit. All other charges were dismissed.