Jeremy Tyler Ferrell
HANCOCK COUNTY — The Indianapolis man convicted of aggravated battery against another inmate who lost an eye while in the Hancock County Jail in August 2022 was given a 20-year prison term by Judge D.J. Davis, who handed down the details of the term during a Oct. 11 sentencing hearing in Hancock County Superior Court 1.
Jeremy Tyler Ferrell, 41, 20 block of North Drexel Avenue, was found guilty of the charges against him in August during a jury trial with the sentencing hearing details officially filed Oct. 13.
Davis handed down the 20-year term to be served at the Indiana Department of Corrections with 12 years to be served for the charges in the case and eight years added on for a habitual offender status. Ferrell was given credit for 298 actual days served and 99 good time days.
Ferrell had been charged with a Level 3 felony count of aggravated battery that results in loss or impairment of a bodily function and a Level 3 felony count of aggravated battery when assault causes serious permanent disfigurement.
Following the jury’s guilty verdicts in August, Ferrell waived his right to have a jury rule on his habitual offender status which needed to be settled. That sent the issue before the bench where Davis, after hearing evidence, determined Ferrell to also be guilty of being a habitual offender.
Ferrell was originally in the county jail for a misdemeanor charge in the summer of 2022 when he got into a fight with another inmate. According to a probable cause affidavit, officials with the county jail were made aware of a physical altercation between two of three inmates who were housed in the H-Pod cell on Aug. 24, 2022. The inmates were Ferrell, Kirk Dale Lonas and James Sachs, who officials determined witnessed the fight.
Lonas, 59, officials noted in the report, was taken to the hospital for an apparent right eye injury after an altercation with Ferrell. According to the report, jail officials found Lonas injured after they were called to the cell. Upon examination by officials, Lonas was taken to the hospital for further care.
Due to the severity of his eye injury, Lonas was eventually transferred to St. Vincent Hospital on Aug. 26, 2022. Doctors there advised Lonas at the time he had lost all vision in his right eye and was possibly going to lose the entire eye. Doctors were successful in surgically putting his right eye back together in the socket, the report said. However, the damage was so severe Lonas will not be able to see again out of the eye.
The report stated that Lonas and Ferrell had gotten into an issue over a snack and Ferrell kicked Lonas’ tote under a bunk. When Lonas went to call officials to report Ferrell, Ferrell then struck Lonas.
The report stated that Sachs told officials, once Ferrell realized Lonas was calling staff, Ferrell punched Lonas with his left hand. Sachs was not sure if Ferrell had a weapon or not, but does know that he “socked Lonas pretty good,” the report stated.
Jail officials, at the time noted the video footage of the cell was unable to determine exactly what happened inside.
Records on Ferrell show he was originally in jail for a criminal mischief charge opened in July of 2022 but also had a 2019 case where a plea agreement was reached on domestic battery and criminal mischief charges.
