Joseph Kidwell
The 19-year-old former Hope resident who said he accepts responsibility for the Nov. 26, 2022 shooting death of his best friend received a two-year sentence with the Indiana Department of Corrections during sentencing Friday afternoon.
Joseph T. Kidwell, 19, of Fowler, will spend 230 days undergoing addiction therapy and evaluation in the Bartholomew County Jail, but he will be kept separate from the jail’s general population, Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin ordered.
Following the jail time, Kidwell will be on probation for the next three years under conditions that will be established by Bartholomew County Community Corrections, she said.
On Sept. 25, Kidwell pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in the shooting death of 18-year-old Hauser High School student Jesse W. Bragg. However, Kidwell has never been accused of intentionally wanting to hurt or kill his life-long friend, defense attorney Michael DeArmitt said.
More than 60 people attended the sentencing hearing.
On the Saturday of last year’s Thanksgiving weekend, Kidwell was at the home of the victim’s brother, John Bragg, where he was playing with a low-powered, replica toy air gun. But when the defendant, the victim and over a dozen friends left for four hours to go to Franklin, a IWI Desert .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun was brought into John Bragg’s house.
Although the owner of the gun said he made sure it was not loaded when he set it down, investigators says several people in the house were handling the weapon before the group returned from Franklin.
When Kidwell returned with the group, he picked up the real handgun thinking it was the air gun. After smoking marijuana and drinking alcoholic beverages, Kidwell pointed the gun at the victim and pulled the trigger, causing a bullet to hit Jesse Bragg in the chest.
Lifesaving measures were undertaken by those inside the home, as well as by Hope police officers, but Bragg was declared dead at the scene when emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene.
Benjamin told Kidwell he wasn’t alone in the responsibility of Jesse Bragg’s death, since nobody has been willing to tell investigators how the handgun became loaded.
Two psychiatric experts who had examined Kidwell testified that he was greatly traumatized by spending five days with the general inmate population at the Bartholomew County Jail after his arrest. The judge agreed with the two experts that Kidwell suffers from both cognitive and health issues that would be made worse if he would be sent to prison.
“It’s not the intent of the court to make someone worse,” Benjamin said.
While Kidwell may be 19, one mental health expert said his cognitive processing is more like that of a 14-year-old.
The mental health experts also agreed that Kidwell has shown genuine remorse and frequently inquires about the well-being of the victim’s parents, Jerry and Mary Bragg. He also suffers depression and anxiety over the loss of his friend that he unintentionally killed, one of the experts said.
During the sentencing hearing, Kidwell folded his arms on the table and buried his head in them while photographs of Jesse Bragg and his family were being displayed.
During her sentence, Benjamin pointed out that Kidwell had no criminal history, no record of violent behavior and agreed to plead guilty without asking for a deal from the prosecution. In addition, a pre-sentence report stated it’s highly unlikely that Kidwell will ever commit a similar crime. Benjamin also said she thought Kidwell would respond to addiction therapy while in the jail.
“Joey, you are not a bad person,” Benjamin told the defendant. “But you did act quick, recklessly and made a bad decision. Jesse isn’t here, and that’s not fair. But under the circumstances, ruining your life would also not be fair.”
