Man who tried to attack judge gets five years

Thursday, February 2, 2017
Joshua Akins

A 26-year-old Greencastle man who allegedly threatened to attack Putnam Circuit Court Judge Matt Headley last March will spend the next two years in prison.

As part of a plea agreement, Joshua Dean Akins was sentenced Wednesday afternoon by Putnam Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges to five years in prison with two years executed time in the Indiana Department of Correction after pleading guilty to the Level 5 felony count of intimidation.

In return, the Putnam County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed a Class A misdemeanor charge of resisting law enforcement filed in the March 7, 2016 incident.

While the plea agreement capped the initial executed sentence at two years, the defendant‘s sentence was open to argument by the parties following Akins’ change of plea.

During his initial court appearance last spring, Akins admitted, “I understand everything that put me behind bars, and I will take the blame for it and nobody else.”

On Wednesday,

Judge Bridges reminded Akins that he was fortunate local police officers are well trained or he might have been seriously injured in the incident.

The quick action of Cloverdale Police Department Sgt. Charlie Hallam has been credited with keeping Akins from getting to Judge Headley, who was on the bench in circuit court.

Hallam, who was in court as a witness, took the defendant to the ground and held him until other officers could assist.

Although Akins’ statements in the courtroom that day indicated some sort of disagreement with Judge Headley, Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter has said no such link seems to exist.

Neither is Akins even linked to any current or recent proceedings in Putnam Circuit Court. He previously faced misdemeanor cases in Headley’s court but those were settled in 2011 and 2013.

Akins was one of two men to threaten Judge Headley in a brief span last March. The other, Patrick S. Zaborski, 45, Indianapolis, was sentenced last September to the maximum six years in the Indiana Department of Correction.

Zaborski, who pleaded guilty to the Level 5 felony intimidation in a plea agreement with the Putnam County Prosecutor’s Office, will have two years of his sentence executed with the remaining four years suspended on probation according to Judge Bridges’ Sept. 26 ruling.

Last March 3 and 4 Zaborski made threatening statements by phone to Judge Headley and members of his staff, reportedly promising to do harm to the judge.

Headley’s only recommendation toward the sentencing of Zaborski was that the defendant receive as much mental health treatment as Judge Bridges could dictate.

Bridges gave Zaborski the maximum sentence for intimidation, citing the defendant’s prior criminal record and the fact the threat was made against a public official as aggravating circumstances.

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