Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed handed down the maximum sentence Thursday to a man convicted March 12 of shooting an employee of a local bar.
Billy Dean Little, 32, of Columbia City, was given a total of 70 years for aggravated battery and possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, both Class B felony charges, and for being a habitual offender. The first two charges each garnered 20-year terms, with the habitual offender charge tacking on another 30 years.
Little was found guilty by a 12-person jury of shooting Bruce Allen Smith, 43, of North Webster, June 4 after Little, his brother and another man were refused service at Good Times, a bar formerly located on South Buffalo Street, Warsaw. The gun and a shirt Little was wearing when the shooting took place were later recovered along Crystal Lake Road, where police investigators were told the items could be found. Little apparently changed his shirt after the shooting because he knew police were looking for a man in a white shirt.
Little was previously convicted of felonies in Ohio and in Marshall County.
