Shelby Thomas to Plead Guilty to Two Class C Felonies

Shelby Thomas

Facing eleven charges, four of which are Class A felonies, Shelby Thomas appeared in the Starke Circuit Court for a plea hearing.  Defense Attorney Richard Ballard and Prosecutor Nick Bourff previously told the court that they plan to resolve the matter without the need of a jury trial, which was set for February 8th.

Ballard told Judge Kim Hall that Thomas will plead guilty to two counts of Intimidation as a Class C Felony, and as part of the agreement, the State will dismiss the other charges, including four counts of Attempted Murder as a Class A Felony, two counts of Intimidation as a Class C Felony and three counts of Resisting Law Enforcement as a Class D Felony.

While reading the charges to Thomas, however, Judge Hall noticed the criminal information was inaccurate and told the State that they will need to file amended criminal information with the proper elements for the two charges Thomas will plead guilty to.

A plea hearing has been tentatively scheduled for Thursday at 1:00 p.m.