BLUFFTON – Bruce Pond told a sad tale Tuesday morning in Wells Circuit Court – about being physically abused and emotionally scarred by his father as he grew into adulthood.

But to the family of 4-year-old Jacob “Jake” Michuda, all those words were adding insult to a tremendous injury. Tuesday was instead, as Jake’s father Matthew Michuda described, one of justice for the little boy who died from a single gunshot wound to the head in July.

The bullet that killed the little boy came from Pond’s gun, one he wasn’t supposed to have and fired out of anger because of a light shining off a small private pier in rural Ossian.

Pond, 47, was sentenced to 40 years in prison with no term of probation.

According to court documents, Pond was drinking with his son and a friend on a patio behind his mother’s house, where he had been living. Pond grew angry at the light, shining about 200 yards away – used to help Jake, his father and others fish for catfish in the dark.

Pond fired a .22-caliber rifle at the light, missed and hit Jake. The little boy cried out for his father and died hours later at a Fort Wayne hospital, according to testimony.

As he heard the scream of sirens coming to the scene, Pond made his son hide the rifle and told police he knew nothing of the gunshots and heard nothing that night.

In December, Pond pleaded guilty to a single charge of voluntary manslaughter. As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, additional charges of murder and reckless homicide were dismissed.

During the lengthy hearing Tuesday, Wells County Prosecutor Michael Lautzenheiser Sr. asked the judge to consider Pond’s criminal history, even though it involved only misdemeanors, and his repeated lies to police immediately after the shooting.

“He has a record for aggressive behavior,” Lautzenheiser said.

Pond has had arrests for battery, domestic battery and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

When he took the stand in his defense, answering questions about his father’s abuse and the choices he has made throughout his life, Pond struggled to keep his composure.

“I am so sorry for giving everybody so much grief,” he said. “If I could take that day back I would. I would give my life for that little boy in a second.”

Jake’s mother, Mackenzie Shank, sobbed as she described life without her son, whose captured fingerprint she wears around her neck on a chain.

“Jacob was covered in love from the moment he came into this world,” she said. “It was love at first sight.”

She described him as a pleasant, thoughtful and charismatic child who loved animals, dinosaurs and reading. He wanted to be either a paleontologist, a marine biologist or a doctor. But now, there is only a silent emptiness and a missing piece in so many lives, Shank said.

Shank said her best friend got married a few weeks after Jake’s death, without her planned ring bearer. Family gatherings also are missing someone.

“I miss his smell, his touch, his little voice calling me,” she said. “Part of me died that day. His absence is felt every day.”

As she spoke, Wells Circuit Court Judge Kenton Kiracofe subtly wiped tears from his eyes with a concealed tissue. When he passed sentence, he said the case sickened him since he first signed the search warrants in July.

“Your thoughtless and reckless act caused a nightmare for this family I cannot comprehend,” Kiracofe said. “You caused their pain.”

He sentenced Pond to the maximum term allowed by the plea agreement – 40 years with no term of probation. Pond must also pay about $9,000 in restitution to Jake’s family for medical and other expenses.

Pond could appeal his sentence, according to the terms of the plea agreement.

rgreen@jg.net