BOONE COUNTY — One of the men charged for his role in the March 2018 murder of Boone County Deputy Jacob Pickett has agreed to a plea deal.
John D. Baldwin II was charged with murder in Pickett's death, along with multiple drug-related offenses. In the plea agreement reached Sept. 25, Baldwin II pleaded guilty to dealing methamphetamine and resisting law enforcement. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the murder charge and other drug-related charges against Baldwin II.
A habitual offender enhancement was added to Baldwin II's 40-year sentence, which includes 24 years to be served at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, 11 years of home detention, five years probation and five years suspended, according to court documents. Baldwin II's sentencing hearing will be held Dec. 2.
Pickett, 34, was fatally shot while assisting with a pursuit on March 2, 2018.
Anthony Baumgardt was sentenced to life in prison in May 2019. Baumgardt likely avoided the death penalty by agreeing to plead guilty to the murder, along with charges of resisting arrest and possession of methamphetamine.
John Austin Ball, who investigators said provided the gun that killed Pickett, pleaded guilty in September 2019 to five drug-related charges and a charge of providing a firearm to an ineligible person. Prosecutors also dropped a murder charge in Ball's case as part of his plea deal.
Ball is serving 46 years in prison in connection to the Pickett case and two years in an unrelated possession of methamphetamine case.
