From the Office of La Porte County Prosecuting Attorney, Sean Fagan, 32nd Judicial Court
On August 27, 2024, after a two-day bench trial, Jason Wetzel was found GUILTY by Circuit Court Judge Thomas Alevizos for Aggravated Battery (Level 3 Felony), along with the sentencing enhancement count of Use of a Firearm. A Level 3 Felony has a sentencing range of 3 to 16 years, while the Enhancement carries an additional term of years. Sentencing will be at a later date. Deputy Prosecutor Julianne Havens presented evidence for the State, along with the assistance of LCSO Detective Aaron Banic.
In May 2020, Mr. Wetzel was charged with the Murder and Aggravated Battery in the shooting death of his son, Jeremiah. In September 2022, a jury found Mr. Wetzel not guilty of Murder, but couldn’t come to an agreement on the Aggravated Battery charge. The Court declared a mistrial, with the State re-trying Mr. Wetzel in August 2024 on the remaining Aggravated Battery charge.
Prosecuting Attorney Sean Fagan said: “The State presented evidence to a jury in September 2022 for the Murder charge, but a jury disagreed. This is all in accordance with the rights we all have under our Constitution. However, the jury didn’t reach a verdict as to the Aggravated Battery charge, so we were able to re-try Mr. Wetzel based on that charge. A different jury agreed with the State this time, all in accordance with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.”
Mr. Fagan continued: “Julianne Havens did an excellent job presenting our case, built on the strong investigative work of Det. Aaron Banic of the Sheriff’s Office. This case has been ongoing since May of 2020, and I know their dedication in seeing this matter to the end. I think our County can rest easy with Julianne and Banic on the job; folks can look forward to even better things from them in the future.”