Jim Lucas
11:10 a.m Nov. 28 update
SEYMOUR — The Indiana Department of Transportation, at The Republic’s request, provided a photocopy of a check showing that Hastings Mutual Insurance company paid $3,929.62 to INDOT on July 27 on behalf of its insured, The Awning Guy, MadJack Properties LLC, as restitution related to the sentencing order for Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour.
There is no reference on the check that indicates it is restitution in the court case and neither Lucas nor the the court case docket number is referenced. The insurance “claimant” is listed as the Indiana Department of Transportation. Lucas is the owner of The Awning Guy.
The sentencing order in the Lucas case states:
The Court orders the following special terms and conditions of probation: 1. The following costs and fees shall be assessed and ordered paid by the Defendant:(a) Court Costs of $185.00;(b) Probation Fees;(c) Alcohol & Drug Evaluation and Treatment/Therapy Fees;(d) Counter Measure Fee of $200.00.2. The Defendant shall pay restitution to the Indiana Department of Transportation under a payment schedule to be set forth by the Jackson County Probation Department. The current estimate is $3,929.62.
Online court documents Tuesday indicate the amount has not been paid, although the Jackson County Clerk’s office says documentation may be in the office within stacks of paperwork to be processed.
The order from Judge Bruce A. MacTavish states:
This cause having come before the Court upon the defendant’s Motion to Modify
Sentencing Order and the Court being duly and fully advised in the premises now finds that the parties have agreed the same should be and hereby is granted.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADIUDGED, (sic) AND DECREED that the condition of
restitution contained in the Court’s original Sentencing Order in the amount of Three-Thousand Nine Hundred Twenty Nine Dollars and Sixty-Two Cents ($3,929.62) to the Indiana Department of Transportation is hereby eliminated and the Sentencing Order should be amended.
ORIGINAL STORY
SEYMOUR — A judge has agreed to eliminate restitution that Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, was ordered to pay after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges stemming from a drunken-driving crash from which he fled, an Indiana State Police lab test confirmed.
In a motion filed Nov. 14 in Jackson Superior Court 2, Lucas’ attorney asked a judge to modify the lawmaker’s sentencing order to eliminate $3,929.62 in restitution that the lawmaker was ordered to pay the Indiana Department of Transportation, arguing that it “was paid in full prior to the sentencing” and that “the existence of restitution in the sentencing order has made the distribution of monies in the cause difficult.” The next day, Judge Bruce A. MacTavish granted the request.
Lucas, whose district includes portions of Jackson, Bartholomew, Scott and Washington counties, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his May 31 crash into guardrails on Interstate 65 at the State Road 11 interchange, after which he fled the scene, drove his severely damaged truck three miles and was found walking before his arrest by Seymour police.
On June 12, he was sentenced to probation and other terms in Jackson Superior Court before prosecutors had received the toxicology report and drug analysis from a blood test administered to Lucas after the wreck. The report later showed the presence of THC, the active psychoactive compound in marijuana.
Lucas also pleaded guilty to a prior drunken driving charge in the 1980s, The Republic has confirmed. However, judgment was withheld in that case, and the record does not appear in law enforcement databases, sources said.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Lucas received a 60-day suspended jail sentence and one year of probation as well as a 180- day suspended jail sentence and one year of probation. Lucas’ driver’s license also was suspended for 60 days, with the exception of being permitted to drive only for the purposes of business in the counties where he has customers between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays.
Court records indicate that Lucas owed $3,884.62 in fees and assessments as part of the sentencing agreement that was modified.
