(AUBURN) – Sentence has been handed down to a man in connection with the death of an Indiana State Police Master Trooper.

DeKalb County Judge Adam Squiller sentenced Terry Sands II of Marion to 16 years on a charge of aggravated battery, and 25 years for resisting law enforcement in the death of James Bailey on March 3, 2023.

This was part of a plea agreement that was entered into in January 2025 by Sands and the DeKalb County Prosecutor’s Office. With this plea, a charge of murder was dropped against Sands.

On March 3, 2023, Bailey was assisting other troopers on I-69 with a traffic backup due to a result of weather related vehicle crashes near the 326 mile marker south of Auburn. He was made aware of an individual driving at a high rate of speed and evading an officer from the Fort Wayne Police Department approaching his location.

Bailey put down stop sticks. Witnesses and police videos show Sands driving into the median on I-69 and striking Bailey.

Sands admitted in court that he was driving the vehicle and had been pulled over in Fort Wayne, where he fled from the officer. He also admitted to striking Bailey.