Man arrested in Putnam County after killing, gets 46 years for role in Boone County deputy’s death

LEBANON — A man who pleaded guilty to seven different charges in connection with Boone County Deputy Jacob Pickett’s death has been sentenced.

John Ball, who was arrested on a Putnam County traffic stop 11 days after the killing, was sentenced to 46 years imprisonment.

This comes after Ball pleaded guilty to seven charges, including providing the gun used in Pickett’s shooting death on March 2, 2018.

Pickett was killed as he rounded the corner of an apartment building in pursuit of Anthony Baumgardt who fled after Lebanon Police tried to arrest him for his role in a drug deal.

Prosecutors argued that John Ball gave Anthony Baumgardt the weapon prior to the shooting with knowledge that Baumgardt was not eligible to buy one.

Baumgardt pleaded guilty to shooting the deputy. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In the days after the killing, with Baumgardt in custody, Ball fled to Western Indiana where he continued to facilitate methamphetamine deals via social media, all the while confirming his role in the deputy’s murder.

Judge Petit cited Ball’s lack of remorse for Deputy Pickett as an aggravating factor in the sentence handed down.

“All of us lived through when Jacob Pickett was murdered,” admonished the judge, “and it affected us all.

“You’ve given a firearm to someone you’re giving drugs to. What on earth could’ve come from that situation besides tragedy?”

Ball’s attorney, Melissa Garton, said her client had a troubled childhood and that the two months leading up to and including Deputy Pickett’s murder were a dark chapter in his life.

Judge Petit noted that when Ball was arrested during a traffic stop in Putnam County 11 days after the killing, he was found in possession of methamphetamine with a loaded gun at his feet in the car.