Ex-cop ordered back to prison, admits to using meth on probation

ANDERSON — James D. Foutch sat at the back of the courtroom with his head relaxed against a wall as he waited for his court hearing Tuesday.

His wife, Whitney Foutch, sat beside him, clutching her husband’s hand tightly in her lap.

In 2015, James Foutch, a 12-year veteran officer on the Edgewood Police Department, admitted to reckless homicide and criminal recklessness inflicting serious bodily injury after he rear-ended a vehicle. The accident killed Jesse Sperry, 23, and injured his pregnant wife, Rebecca Sperry, then 22, on April 6, 2014.

The couple’s daughter, Autumn, was born later that day.

At the time of the accident, James Foutch was off duty and driving a Yukon SUV at 92 mph when he hit the couple’s car. He later admitted to an investigator he had taken prescribed hydrocodone and unprescribed Xanax the morning of the accident.

James Foutch was given an 11-year sentence, with eight years to be served in the Indiana Department of Correction and three years on probation. He was released from prison in spring 2019.

On Tuesday, James Foutch appeared before Madison Circuit Court 4 Judge David A. Happe and admitted to using methamphetamine May 16, while he was on probation.

He testified that he was given the drug while on probation for free by a friend and then named the woman when questioned by Madison County Deputy Prosecutor Samantha Green.

Under oath, James Foutch said he used methamphetamine as something of an experiment days before a court hearing.

“I felt like I was going back to prison, so I needed to see what it was like so I could go back to the general population like I was and survive it,” he said. “There were some things that I learned I had to do to survive.”

Green did not believe him.

“I think that is disingenuous. I don’t think that’s honest, and it shows continued criminal thinking on his part,” she said. “I don’t think he is still being honest with the court today.”

Rebecca Sperry took the stand and read a prepared statement saying James Foutch repeatedly showed disregard for the law, the judicial system and a lack of remorse for killing her husband.

“Mr. Foutch’s ‘apology’ at his sentencing in 2015 has proven as hollow as his empty soul.”

She said James Foutch should go back to prison for violating his probation.

“I do not understand why this heartless man, who adds no benefit to society, is not in prison already,” she said. “He puts the public at growing risk every moment he is not in prison.”

Nicale Rector, his defense attorney, said her client was repeating phases often used by drug addicts and deserved another chance to prove he can “do the right thing.” She asked for the courts to give James Foutch 90 days to stay out of trouble, and if he messes up again then he should be ordered back to prison.

Judge Happe disagreed with Rector and revoked the remaining balance of James Foutch’s three-year suspended sentence, which will be served at the Department of Correction.

“Mr. Foutch, it goes without saying the court is profoundly disappointed that we find ourselves here in this situation where we are today once again discussing the violations of your sentencing,” said Happe. “You went through what should have been an extremely life-changing event, having caused the death of another person with your reckless conduct.

“That should have changed your life.”

Whitney Foutch became emotional during the sentencing and rushed up toward the front of the courtroom, begging to say goodbye to her husband as he was being handcuffed. She was led, sobbing, out of the courtroom by a bailiff.

Outside the courtroom, she wailed loudly as she dropped to her knees near a hallway bench. She was later escorted from the courthouse by a bailiff, who thought she had left. But she waited across the street for Rebecca Sperry and her friends and family.

“I actually thought she was going to attack me,” Sperry said.

She said Whitney Foutch rushed toward her screaming and threatening her as Sperry walked down the courthouse steps.

“(A bailiff) actually told her you need to leave or I’m going to arrest you, and she did not take him seriously,” said Rebecca Sperry.

She said Whitney Foutch told her she was wrong, a horrible person and she would make sure Rebecca Sperry never got another penny of restitution for the family’s medical bills.

“This is not a case about money,” she said. “It’s not about the dollar amount of the restitution.”

Rebecca Sperry said all she asked was that James Foutch be accountable for his actions, and the judge listened to her plea.

“This has gone on for way to olong,” she said. “Way too long.”