Burglar who was shot gets home detention
- An Albany man shot after breaking into a Dunkirk garage was placed on home detention Wednesday.
- Under the terms of a plea agreement, two unrelated charges pending against David Bailey were dropped.
- The burglar was shot by homeowner David McLaughlin in April 2014 after fleeing from the garage.
- A Jay Superior Court jury last September found McLaughlin guilty of criminal recklessness.
PORTLAND – A legal saga that began nearly 14 months ago with gunshots fired in a Dunkirk alley ended in Jay Circuit Court on Wednesday.
David A. Bailey, 30, of Albany, admitted to breaking into the garage of Dunkirk resident David McLaughlin on April 21, 2014.
McLaughlin, 32, that night fired gunshots at the intruder he saw fleeing from his property, in the 400 block of West Commerce Street. One of the bullets truck Bailey in the left arm as he ran down an alley.
A Jay Superior Court jury found McLaughlin guilty of criminal recklessness in the shooting. In November, Judge Max Ludy sentenced the Dunkirk man to 60 days in jail, followed by four months on home detention.
Bailey, who had pleaded guilty to burglary, on Wednesday was placed on electronic home detention for three years, to be followed by three years on probation.
Jay Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison accepted the terms of a plea agreement negotiated by Prosecutor Wesley Schemenaur and defense attorney Jake Dunnuck.
The deal also called for two charges, unrelated to the break-in, filed against Bailey in November — carrying a handgun without a permit and theft of a firearm — to be dismissed.
At McLaughlin’s trial last September, Bailey claimed another man had broken into the garage, and that his wounding was the result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He also acknowledged he at first lied to police about how he had been wounded, claiming he was shot when his family dog knocked a loaded handgun off a table.
Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.