HANCOCK COUNTY — Dressed in a mask and an orange jumpsuit, Jacobi Cavaletto didn’t have much to say during an intense hour-long sentencing hearing on Tuesday, June 22.
Cavaletto, 38, Greenfield, held law enforcement at bay for 14 hours during a SWAT standoff two years ago. Shots were fired while Cavaletto was barricaded inside a pole barn. It took the Hancock County Joint Tactical SWAT team and law enforcement officials from two other neighboring departments to get Cavaletto out of the barn. Cavaletto finally jumped out of a second-story window after officers fired numerous rounds of tear gas and used a flash-bang grenade.
Cavaletto was given a six-year term as part of a plea agreement handed down by special judge Cody Coombs, who was handling the case in Hancock County Superior Court 1. Three years of the sentence are to be executed, and three years will be served on formal probation. Due to credit for time already served, Cavaletto will spend only a few more months in jail.
As part of the plea agreement, Cavaletto pleaded guilty to three Level 6 felonies while nine other charges — including three Level 3 felonies — were dropped. Law enforcement and officials from the prosecutor’s office agreed evidence was lacking to support the most serious charges against Cavaletto and felt the plea agreement served the best interest of justice.
“The state’s chances of proving the Level 3 crimes were not very good,” Cavaletto’s attorney, Jeff McClarnon, said during the hearing.
The plea agreement didn’t please Coombs or the probation department, represented by Mary Kay Dobbs, who handled the pre-sentence investigation. However, in the end the agreement was accepted by the court after an official from the sheriff’s department, Capt. Ted Munden, the only one to testify at the hearing, said law enforcement officials would be happy if Cavaletto gets the help he needs for addiction and mental health issues.
Cavaletto will get credit for 724 days of total time served and will likely only end up serving another 185 days of the remainder of the sentence before he’s released on probation. That prospect concerned both Coombs and Dobbs, who noted the sentence was not long enough for Cavaletto to take part in addiction and mental health recovery programs while he’s still in jail, something law enforcement officials feel he desperately needs.
“You have to have treatment, because you are going to hurt yourself or someone else,” Coombs said. “I’m going to be blunt: I’m not a huge fan of this plea agreement.”
During the proceedings, Cavaletto sat quietly at the defense table beside his lawyer, occasionally looking back into the courtroom toward his father, who was seated at the back of the room.
Dobbs noted the plea agreement calls for treatment, but it will only come now once he’s on probation as the department can refer him to services. However, it’s not the same as the intensive, 18- to 24-month recovery programs that can be administered at the Indiana Department of Correction, Dobbs said. Such treatment cannot be replicated in the community, she added.
McClarnon told the court before sentencing he planned to work with Cavaletto once he’s on probation to make sure he gets the treatment needed.
“This is a hard case,” McClarnon said. “It ended up being a compromise, and we fashioned a plan that makes sense for all.”
McClarnon said Cavaletto is at the phase of acceptance where he has finally realized he has a problem. Coombs noted Cavaletto has a history of criminal behavior and told Cavaletto he needs to take his treatment seriously.
“You need treatment,” Coombs said, staring at Cavaletto from the bench. Cavaletto nodded his head slowly in agreement.
Prosecutor Kevin Kelly represented the state during the hearing and said this was Cavaletto’s last chance to deal with his addiction and mental health issues. He said while he would have liked for Cavaletto to serve more time, he agreed with the terms of the deal.
When officers first arrived at the scene June 8, 2019, Cavaletto told police he was fine and didn’t require their assistance. Police had responded to reports about a troubled or emotional person.
“Local law enforcement escalated the situation in every way,” McClarnon said of the encounter, which took a turn when Cavaletto wouldn’t come out of the barn and the SWAT team was summoned.
While Cavaletto was out on bond for the SWAT incident, he had another run-in with law enforcement on June 24, 2020, which resulted in four charges, including resisting law enforcement. Court records note the issue will be resolved in relationship to the plea agreement in Superior Court 1. A jury trial on that case in Superior Court 2 was canceled Tuesday, and the case will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
