Three Indiana judges have been temporarily suspended without pay over their involvement in a drunken brawl in a White Castle parking lot earlier this year — that ended with two of them shot.

What are the details?

Judges Andrew Adams, Bradley Jacobs, and Sabrina Bell were attending a judicial conference in Indianapolis in May when they gathered at a bar to drink for several hours before deciding to head to a strip club called the Red Garter. The establishment was closed, so at around 3:15 a.m., they wound up at White Castle, instead.

While a fourth judge accompanying them went inside the restaurant, Adams, Jacobs, and Bell remained outside. During that time, a car with two male passengers drove by and yelled something out the window. Bell reacted by flipping them the bird, and the men rolled into the parking lot to confront the judges who were described in court documents as being "in a heavily intoxicated state."

NBC News reported that "the confrontation ended when one of the men from the car, identified as Brandon Kaiser, pulled a gun and shot Adams once and Jacobs twice, investigators said." Both judges were seriously injured and were hospitalized for several days.

According to NPR, the Indiana Supreme Court was less than impressed. In an opinion posted this week, the court decided to hand down penalties to the judges, "not primarily to punish a judge, but rather to preserve the integrity of and public confidence in the judicial system."

Jacobs and Bell were both given 30 day unpaid suspensions from the bench, and Adams was handed a 60 day suspension with no pay. Adams' punishment was greater because he pleaded guilty to battery charges related to the incident earlier this year.



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