Eggers
A former Johnson County judge has been sentenced to 357 days of probation for drunk driving. The sentence is in line with the advisory sentence set for an A misdemeanor.
Jeffrey C. Eggers, 66, of Franklin, was charged twice with drunk driving over a period of a few months. The first charge was filed on Dec. 13 and the second was on Feb. 9.
On both occasions, he was pulled over in Johnson County with a blood alcohol level exceeding 0.15, resulting in two operating while intoxicated charges each time, according to court records from Johnson County Superior Court 3.
Eggers has been a judge on and off for the last 40 years, with his first appointment being as Johnson County Superior Court 2 judge in 1983. He was later appointed Circuit Court judge in 1987, before leaving for private practice in 1994. He also briefly served as a member of the Franklin City Council in the mid-2000s.
Earlier this year, he served as a temporary judge for Superior Court 3, along with a temporary stint as a senior judge in Hancock County. He most recently served as a temporary judge for Morgan County Superior Court 1 from Oct. 11 to Dec. 4.
Eggers did not seek recertification to serve as a senior judge this year and has not served as a pro tem judge since before the first arrest, said Kathryn Dolan, public information officer for Indiana Supreme Court.
Eggers entered a plea agreement on Aug. 8 and was sentenced the same day. Per the agreement, he pled guilty to the February charge of operating while intoxicated endangerment and the other charges were dismissed.
He was sentenced to 365 days with credit for four days served. The sentence will not result in additional jail time, but he will serve 357 days on probation. While on probation, he is ordered to participate in substance abuse evaluation and treatment, with credit for 35 days, according to the plea agreement filed with the court.
His driver’s license was also suspended for 180 days, retroactive to Feb. 24. He will also pay court costs, the agreement says.
The sentence and plea agreement were approved by personnel from nearby county courts after Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner and Johnson Superior Court 3 Judge Douglas Cummins both recused themselves, citing Eggers’ status as a member of the local legal community.
Bartholomew County Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton heard the case in his courtroom, while Shelby County Deputy Prosecutor Scott Spears was assigned to represent the state.
In one respect the case went beyond the scope of the normal legal process. Typically a driving while intoxicated case would be assigned to city court, but former prosecutor Joe Villanueva opted to file it in county court, said Jay Hoffman, who acted as Eggers’ legal counsel. Typically a case would only be filed in county court if there is an exigent circumstance such as property damage. However, there was none in this case, he said.
Hoffman called filing it in county court “an extraordinary measure.”
Aside from that, the case proceeded as normal. The sentence reflects the state’s advisory sentence for a Class A misdemeanor, which is between zero days and 365 days of jail time or supervision, with a fine of between $0 and $5,000.
Throughout the process, Eggers approached his recovery and the legal process with humility, Hoffman said.
“It was amazing to me the humble manner in which Jeff approached this, and then the humility expressed throughout the process. He did some very hard work on his issues,” he said. “And when I spoke with him about it, he said, ‘If anybody asks, you tell them what I did. You tell them I’m going to try to fix it. And you tell them I’m sorry.’”
Eggers took a proactive step to address the underlying issues that lead to the drunk driving incidents, Hoffman said. Though it wasn’t required of him, Eggers went to inpatient treatment for 35 days prior to the sentence being issued and consented to monitoring to show he was sober, Hoffman said.
“That’s an approach that I rarely see on misdemeanor DUIs. Fortunately, most of my clients do it, but it’s not required,” he said.
Eggers also took the step of retiring his legal license on May 4, rather than having it suspended after the sentence was issued, according to the Indiana Roll of Attorneys.
He did all this despite a health scare and with support from the legal community and the community at large. Many people reached out to check on him and wish him well, Hoffman said.
“He did (go above and beyond), but he needed to,” he said, “His acknowledgment and recognition of that necessity is what I find incredible.”
