HANCOCK COUNTY — Jonathan K. Jacobi was sentenced to serve four years in prison for leaving the scene of a deadly accident in July of 2019. The term was handed down as part of a plea agreement after Jacobi admitted guilt to striking and killing bicyclist Terry Huff, 67, of Anderson. Huff’s sister, Kenara Ellsworth-Nugent, said at the time that regardless of the sentence, she’ll never have her brother back in her life.

The Huff family remained heartbroken and on edge after a motion to modify Jacobi’s sentence was filed only eight months into his four-year prison term on Dec. 12, 2021. A modification was officially granted by Judge Scott Sirk on Feb. 9 of this year. That decision released Jacobi from prison after he served an estimated 22 months, or some 670 days of the original 1,460 days he was supposed to serve.

The original sentence handed down by Sirk in April of 2021 called for a six-year term, with four of those years to be executed in the Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC). The two remaining years were to be served on formal probation. That included the first year of formal probation being home detention. Jacobi was also ordered to participate in the Recovery While Incarcerated program while in prison.

Prior to the original sentencing, Jacobi received three days of jail credit following his initial arrest before bonding out in 2019. He remained free until he was sentenced April 2021.

Even if Jacobi had been a model citizen while serving the four years of the six-year term, prosecutor Brent Eaton noted the earliest Jacobi should have gotten out of prison before the modification was after he had served at least 978 days (32 months) of the 1,460 days, not after just 22 months.

Details of the probation were updated last week via court documents alerting that Jacobi had been released from prison back in February. While sentence modification is nothing new and happens often, this case was a high profile one where more than 50 spectators were in the courtroom during sentencing and at least another 40 people waited outside when Sirk announced the original terms on the Level 4 felony.

In February, Sirk officially modified the sentence. The modification called for 237 days to be executed as a direct commitment to Community Corrections Home Detention, with two years suspended to formal probation. The first year of that probation is to be served on Community Corrections Home Detention.

The Daily Reporter reached out to Sirk and asked if he might share any determining factors that led to his decision to accept the modification as he did. Sirk noted he didn’t feel it was appropriate to comment on a finalized judicial ruling.

The one thing Sirk did say was, “There is no penalty sufficient for what he did. I only hope he lives the rest of his life in honor of Terry Huff and his family.”

Eaton said the modification did come at the objection of the state and the family, which remains devastated at the loss of Huff.

“The family did not want the modification because they are still heart-broken, and we asked the court to not modify the sentence, however, the judge ruled so we have to accept and respect the decision of the court,” Eaton said.

On the morning of July 26, 2019, Huff was riding his bicycle west along the edge of Ind. 234 west of Ind. 9 when he was struck from behind by a pickup truck driven by Jacobi, who left the scene and did not render aid to Huff.

The force of the collision threw Huff and his mangled bicycle into a ditch, where he was spotted when a passing driver caught a glimpse of him off the side of the road.

Jacobi, 40, McCordsville, drove the morning of the crash to a body shop in another county to have the collision damage on his truck repaired. Jacobi also lied to detectives about the hit-and-run crash when he was first interviewed and changed his story only after he was arrested.

“No matter if there would have been zero time or life (in prison), there will never really be any true justice,” Ellsworth-Nugent said at the time of the sentencing. “There is nothing that will ever bring Terry back.”