Judge gives Couch suspended sentence

Couch

GREENCASTLE -- The first of four co-defendants allegedly involved in an April shooting incident has been sentenced.

Judge Matthew Headley entered judgments of conviction on Class D felonies resisting law enforcement and neglect of a dependent against Lacey Ann Couch, 24, of Greencastle. He sentenced Couch to two-year Indiana Department of Correction sentences on both counts, two run concurrently, and suspended the sentences.

Couch will receive credit for the 113 days she served in jail after her arrest.

Couch will be on probation for the duration of her sentence. If she violates the terms of her probation, any all or any portion of her suspended sentence could be reinstated.

Couch's original charges were Class C felony assisting a criminal and Class D felonies receiving stolen property, resisting law enforcement, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and neglect of a dependent. Several of those charges were dismissed in accordance with a plea agreement struck between Couch and the state.

Couch was arrested on April 8. She, along with co-defendants Justin Hargrove, 24, of Greencastle and Keven Crowe, 19, and Michael Pryor, 18, both of Coatesville, was accused or participating in a joyriding and shooting spree that occurred on April 5.

On that day, several calls reporting shots fired in the area of Walnut Street in Greencastle came into Putnam County Dispatch just before 2 a.m. One caller was able to give dispatchers a description of the car from which the shots were being fired.

Just after 2 a.m., Putnam County Sheriff's Department Reserve Deputy Matt Biggs saw a vehicle matching the description of the shooter's vehicle at the intersection of Bloomington and Washington streets. Biggs began driving behind the vehicle and attempted to make a traffic stop at the intersection of Franklin and Durham streets.

At that point, court records alleged Hargrove exited the vehicle and fired approximately two or three rounds at Biggs' police vehicle. One round struck the police vehicle's hood and ricocheted into the windshield.

Biggs was not injured.

Couch was the driver of the vehicle used in the incident.

Hargrove is charged with attempted murder and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon; Pryor and Crowe are charged with criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, assisting a criminal and receiving stolen property.

All three remain in jail. Hargrove's case is set to go to trial in January. Plea agreements have been taken under advisement for Crowe and Pryor, and they are both set to be sentenced on Sept. 30.