A night on the town for a few judges turned sloppy and then violent and now one of the judges who was shot in the altercation is facing charges.

Unraveling this story is a little difficult but from what is known is that Judge Andrew Adams and Judge Brad Jacobs, both of Southern Indiana’s Clark County, were in Indianapolis for a judicial conference and decided to take in the big city. From the IndyStar:

After hopping around several Downtown restaurants and bars late April 30 and into the morning hours of May 1, the judges tried to enter the Red Garter Gentleman’s Club, police said, but it was closed. They went to the nearby White Castle instead.

I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were playing some “color-themed establishment bingo” and not anything untoward. At some point, it’s not entirely clear when, Judge Sabrina Bell joined the group and all three were chilling in the White Castle parking lot when everything got ugly. Two guys in an SUV pulled up and got into a fight with Judges Adams and Jacobs:

During the struggle, one man raised to his knees, pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Adams in the stomach. Nearby, Jacobs and another man were wrestling. The other man held onto Jacobs, police said, when the shooter walked up to Jacobs and shot him in the chest. After Jacobs fell to the ground, one man held him down while the shooter held the gun against Jacobs’ chest and shot again. Then the two men drove away, leaving the judges behind.

The police and prosecutors are keeping details frustratingly tight around this case so there’s no disclosed motive for the fight, but what we do know is that the shooter and his accomplice have been charged… but so has Judge Adams. The judge is facing “seven counts of low-level felony and misdemeanor charges, including two counts of Level 6 felony battery.” Judge Jacobs faces no charges.

The whole thing is an even bigger mess because prosecutors empaneled two grand juries and put up firewalls between individual prosecutors so everyone was able to be offered immunity in inquiries where they were victims without impacting the grand jury considering charges against each as perpetrators. All three charged men are free right now — for some f**king reason — and are expected to turn themselves in this week.

Conferences, man. I’m starting to get nervous about my next big legal tech show. I hear the EPCOT Center can get really rough.

Indiana judge is indicted for his alleged role in his own shooting at White Castle [IndyStar]

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.