Man gets 81 years for attacks on police

MUNCIE – A Muncie man convicted of trying to kill one city police officer and severely beating another was sentenced Wednesday to 81 years in prison.

Bryan William Modglin, 34, was found guilty of attempted murder and battery resulting in serious bodily injury by Delaware Circuit Court 4 Judge John Feick after a bench trial in September.

Witnesses said after he was involved in a fight at a southside bar – which resulted in two lesser battery convictions – Modglin first attacked reserve officer Richard Little and then city patrolman Shane Finnegan outside an East 28th Street home.

Modglin was shot twice in the chest by Finnegan as he choked the officer.

Modglin – also convicted of being a habitual offender, which accounted for 30 years of his sentence – maintained Monday he had not tried to kill anyone during the September 2013 fracas.

“I would like to apologize to the victims of my bad choices,” he said, adding his intoxication that night led to the violence.

Public defender Steven Bruce urged Feick to impose a 50-year sentence, the minimum penalty for his client’s convictions.

Eric Hoffman, chief trial deputy prosecutor, recommended Feick issue the 81-year sentence, saying Modglin had “a severe and pervasive character defect.”

Hoffman noted Modglin’s long criminal record – including 11 prior felony convictions, seven of them for house burglary. As a 14-year-old, the prosecutor added, Modglin threatened to kill a police officer and a school administrator.

“He has no one to blame but himself,” Hoffman said. The two officers testified the 2013 attacks had a devastating impact on their lives and careers.

Before Feick imposed the 81-year sentence, seven friends and relatives of Modglin took the witness stand to urge the judge to be lenient.

One called Modglin “an upstanding citizen.” Another said the Muncie man ‘inspires me as a person.”

Modglin’s mother tearfully read a letter from the defendant’s 16-year-old daughter.

“I know my dad is no saint,” the teen wrote, “but I love him.”

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.