Jeremiah McIntosh
Ripley County Sheriff's Office
(Versailles, Ind.) - Jeffrey Benham lost his life when he was cracked in the head with a baseball bat in April of 2011.
Now, the man who swung that bat, Jeremiah McIntosh, will lose 20 years of freedom.
Ripley Circuit Court Judge Carl Taul handed down the sentence to the 34-year-old on Monday during a crowded and emotional sentencing hearing, the Osgood Journal reports. In December, McIntosh had pleaded guilty to a charge of Voluntary Manslaughter.
Three of the 20 years were suspended to probation. McIntosh was given credit for 271 days already served in jail before sentencing.
McIntosh had fled to Florida after an April 3 fight at his Versailles area home with Jeffrey Benham. He was arrested on a Ripley County warrant in Florida.
Witnesses said a mob of about 40 people including Benham had come to McIntosh’s home on Benham Road just a day after McIntosh was released from jail on a separate charge.
McIntosh’s brother claimed Jeremiah was only defending himself when he struck Benham, 48, in the head with the bat. Ripley County deputies arrived on the scene and found Benham on the ground bleeding.
Benham died in the hospital two weeks later.
“This is such a bad thing. I loved my son like your mother loves you,” Benham’s mother, Charlene told McIntosh during Monday's hearing. “I’m trying to forgive you. I will forgive you.”
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