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Jury finds Wittig guilty of four felonies
A Heritage Lake man was convicted of four felonies Friday afternoon following a July 2012 fight with two reserve police officers.
In Putnam Circuit Court, the jury found 46-year-old Paul Wittig guilty of Class C felony battery resulting in serious bodily injury, Class D felony battery resulting in bodily injury and two counts of Class D felony resisting law enforcement.
The early-morning fight on July 4, 2012 resulted in injuries to Putnam County Sheriff's Department reserve deputies Dena DeLaCruz and Barry Barger. DeLaCruz was airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital after the incident.
The three-day jury trial concluded shortly after 3 p.m., with Putnam Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley reading the unanimous verdicts to all counts.
Late Friday morning, the attorneys made their closing arguments to the court, with Prosecutor Timothy Bookwalter saying the jury's duty was relatively simple.
"At some point you folks are going to have to decide what version of this you are going to believe," Bookwalter said.
The prosecutor then laid out inconsistencies between the accounts, with Wittig claiming in a taped interview that there had been no contact between he and DeLaCruz before the fight.
The testimony of DeLaCruz and others said there had been several days of acrimony between the two, including a confrontation earlier that night.
He also discussed Wittig's contention that he acted in self defense, and did little to fight back once the confrontation became physical. Bookwalter reminded the jury of the severity of DeLaCruz's injuries.
Bookwalter also discussed the testimony of Deputy Mike Downing, who responded to Heritage Lake in the northeast part of the county from U.S. 40 in southern Putnam County, to find Wittig still fighting with the reserve deputies and others.
Defense attorney James Holder responded with his own discussion of credibility. Harkening back to his opening argument, Holder said the state's witnesses had filled in the blanks of the story once they found Wittig on the ground, struggling with the two officers.
Holder said he did not believe most of the witnesses intentionally lied in their testimony, but that they were making assumptions about various events of the evening.
Also running through Holder's final argument was a sentiment that the police acted wrongfully both in the confrontation and the subsequent investigation.
"I would like to say, from the bottom of my heart, that the Putnam County Sheriff's Department needs to hear that you cannot walk into this courtroom with dirty hands," Holder said.
He continued that the jury needed to "send a message" to police that citizens should be treated with respect, and if an arrest must be made, it should be done "with honor, with honesty, with integrity."
"Send that message," Holder concluded, "and send my client home with his family."
When the verdict came back three hours later, it seemed to be Bookwalter's final rebuttal that weighed more heavily on jurors' minds.
"The message that needs to be sent," Bookwalter said, "is that in our society, there's lines you don't cross. In our society, there's things you don't do.
"Mr. Wittig is responsible for this, ladies and gentlemen. The case is in your hands."
In finding Wittig guilty, the case passed from the jury's hands to Judge Headley's.
The judge will decide Wittig's next several years in a Thursday, Jan. 2 sentencing hearing.
A Class C felony carries a prison term between two and eight years and a possible fine of up to $10,000. Class D felonies carry a sentence of six months to three years and fines up to $10,000.
All told, Wittig faces up to 17 years in prison and as much as $40,000 in fines.