Man accused of shooting Clark County judges says he acted in self-defense

Brandon kaiser faces 14 charges 

By Aprile Rickert

Brandon Kaiser

INDIANAPOLIS — A man charged with shooting two Clark County judges during a fight last year in Indianapolis says he acted in self-defense.

Brandon Kaiser faces 14 charges, including eight felonies, related to the shooting of Clark County Judges Andrew Adams and Brad Jacobs outside a White Castle in the early hours of May 1. Kaiser has a jury trial set for March 16 in Marion Superior Court.

On Tuesday, Kaiser’s attorneys filed a notice of affirmative defense in his case, which states that he was acting in self-defense when the two judges were shot following a verbal-turned-physical fight in the parking lot.

The document states that under Indiana code, “a person is justified in using reasonable force against another person to protect himself or a third party from what he reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful force” and that the case meets the elements for self-defense — that he was in a place he had a right to be in, that he “did not provoke, instigate or participate willingly” in the fight, and that he had “reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm.”

Drew Adams

The News and Tribune previously reported that, according to documents from the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications, the two judges had been out drinking with two other Indiana judicial officers when they stopped at White Castle around 3 a.m. One of the four went inside while Adams, Jacobs and Crawford Circuit Court Judge Sabrina Bell waited outside.

Kaiser and co-defendant in the case, Alfredo Vazquez, drove past and yelled something, after which Bell made an obscene gesture, which pre-empted the argument. Records show all four men — Adams, Jacobs, Kaiser and Vazquez — engaged in the fight before police say Kaiser shot both judges and fled the scene with Vazquez.

The court filing states that Kaiser did not provoke the fight, but that he was attempting to enter the locked restaurant when the judges approached him and Vazquez “in a hostile manner.”

Referencing still shots taken from surveillance footage at the scene, the notice states that Kaiser was “repeatedly beaten by two men,” including being “kicked in the head by Judge Adams while being held down by Judge Jacobs.”

Court records say “the defendant, who was repeatedly beaten, choked and slammed around, was reasonable to fear that this assault would result in his death or severe injury.”

Brad Jacobs

Adams was shot once and Jacobs twice; the judges underwent emergency surgery and were placed on medical leave while they recovered. Later in May, Kaiser and Vazquez were arrested and released without charges being filed at that time.

On June 28, Kaiser, Adams and Vazquez were criminally indicted in the case. Adams and Vazquez, both of whom faced lesser charges, each pleaded guilty to a class A misdemeanor for battery. Each was sentenced to a year in jail, which was suspended.

In November, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled the three judges had committed judicial misconduct, charges brought by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications. They all have since returned to the bench.

When reached by phone, Mario Massillamany, Kaiser’s lead defense attorney, declined to comment, citing a no-contact order in the case. A message left with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office was not immediately returned by press time.

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Man accused of shooting Clark County judges says he acted in self-defense