Columbus man gets probation for endangering life of 3-year-old

A Bartholomew County judge enhanced the sentence for a local man who admitting to endangering the life of his 3-year-old daughter by smoking marijuana in his truck while she was in her car seat and having loaded guns in the vehicle while transporting her.

Judge Kelly Benjamin accepted terms of a plea bargain filed in the case of Joshua Janes, 33, of 4303 Roosevelt St., who pleaded guilty Aug. 6 to one count of Level 6 felony neglect of a dependent.

Benjamin sentenced Janes on Thursday to two and a half years on probation, as called for in the plea bargain, but ruled the probation must be served through Community Corrections, which has the option to order various probationary requirements such as home monitoring, day reporting and work release requirements.

The original plea bargain did not specify Community Corrections would supervise the probation, but Benjamin said she would be more inclined to agree with the plea bargain if that stipulation were made.

After Janes consulted with his defense attorney, Dominic Glover, he agreed to the stipulation, along with another of the judge’s requirements, which was that Janes must work toward his GED while on probation.

In addition to those conditions, Benjamin reiterated that Janes was required to undergo an alcohol and drug evaluation, comply with any recommended treatment and that he transfer ownership of all firearms, ammunition and other firearm supplies and accessories to the probation department. Janes may transfer the firearms to someone the probation department agrees to, but the judge reminded him he cannot have any of the weapons in his possession during the two and a half years of probation.

If the probation is successfully completed, the prosecutor’s office agreed that judgment of conviction would be reduced to a Class A misdemeanor, according to court records.

Before Benjamin announced the sentence, Glover put Janes on the stand to testify about what happened on Dec. 8 when he was taken into custody and accused of smoking marijuana in his truck with his daughter in the back seat near Seventh and North Cherry streets.

Janes testified he was driving a friend home with his 3-year-old daughter in her car seat in the back seat when the two men decided to smoke marijuana in the friend’s driveway.

He acknowledged that an AR-15 rifle was in the truck, with the magazine tucked into the driver’s side door, and there were other loaded handguns in the vehicle while the two men were smoking marijuana.

When Columbus police arrived and searched the truck, they found three unsecured handguns, two of them loaded, under the front seats and an unloaded AR-15 assault rifle, with a fully-loaded clip, on the rear floorboard near the child, the affidavit states.

In addition, cut straws used for inhaling illegal narcotics were found in the truck, the affidavit states.

When questioned by Benjamin and Bartholomew County Deputy Prosecutor Mary Wertz, Janes said he knew the marijuana smoking could have made his daughter sick and that it was unhealthy for her. The windows of the truck were rolled up most of the way when the two were smoking marijuana, he said.

Janes said he was stressed and wasn’t thinking clearly when he agreed to smoke the marijuana with his friend, who provided the marijuana. The guns were in the truck because Janes had gone out shooting with a friend earlier that day, he said.

The 3-year-old has been in Janes’ mother’s custody since the incident, although Janes does live with her, he testified.

Janes said he was considering giving his mother guardianship of the girl, and the case is being supervised by the Department of Child Services (DCS), with Janes taking part in various counseling and instructional sessions about parenting, he said.

“Right now, my mom has her because I don’t have the funds to properly care for my daughter,” he said.

Janes is working to catch up on bills, however, and hopes to regain custody of the girl in the future, he said.

Janes told the court he works full time for a towing firm and that his daughter remains under DCS supervision, meaning she is covered by the state for medical insurance.

Janes said he would agree to whatever drug testing schedule is set up through probation, and told the judge Thursday he would pass a drug test if given one.

Benjamin said mitigating factors in the case included that the guilty plea to the neglect charge is Janes’ first offense and probation officials concluded he is unlikely to reoffend. Other mitigating factors were that Janes has a job and has cooperated with child protective services about his daughter’s case.

The judge said she was not saying that the facts in Janes’ case were not egregious.

At the end of the sentencing, she reminded Janes that he could not appeal the case, as he had pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain.