Indiana man who provided gun in cop's killing gets 46 years

LEBANON, Ind. (AP) - A man who pleaded guilty to providing a handgun used to kill a central Indiana sheriff's deputy has been sentenced to 46 years in prison on drug and weapons charges.

A Boone County judge sentenced John Ball on Thursday to 30 years on five drug-related charges and 16 years on a charge of providing a firearm to an ineligible person. Ball, 24, was also sentenced to 2 1/2 years on a previous meth conviction.

Ball had pleaded guilty in September to the charges. Prosecutors agreed to drop a murder charge Ball had faced in the March 2018 killing of Boone County Sheriff's Deputy Jacob Pickett.

Prosecutors said Ball gave Anthony Baumgardt of Lebanon a handgun prior to Pickett's shooting despite knowing that Baumgardt wasn't eligible to buy one. The 34-year-old deputy was shot while pursuing Baumgardt with his police dog. Pickett died three days later.

Baumgardt was sentenced to life in prison without parole in May after pleading guilty to murder in Pickett's killing.

A third man charged in the deputy's slaying, John Baldwin Jr., is scheduled to stand trial in April on murder and other charges.