Man Gets Life In Prison For Boone County Deputy's Shooting Death

Associated Press

Boone County Deputy Jacob Pickett.
*Boone County Sheriff's Department*

LEBANON, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty in the fatal shooting of a sheriff's deputy.

A judge sentenced 22-year-old Anthony Baumgardt of Lebanon on Wednesday for Boone County Deputy Jacob Pickett's March 2018 killing.

The 34-year-old deputy was shot while pursuing Baumgardt with his police dog in Lebanon. Pickett died three days later.

Investigators say Baumgardt told them he fired at Pickett because he didn't want to get bitten by his police dog during a foot chase that began after a police pursuit ended in a car crash.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Baumgardt. But he agreed in April to plead guilty to murder and other charges Wednesday under a plea deal that spared him the death penalty.

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