Slain Officer's Family, Police Speak Out on Gun Dealer's Sentence

by Troy Kehoe (tkehoe@wsbt.com)

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Ronald Wedge

Ronald Wedge speaks to WSBT News in an exclusive interview in September 2007. (WSBT photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Dec 5, 2007 at 4:39 PM EST

Story Updated: Apr 6, 2008 at 11:23 PM EST

(WSBT) A Bristol man will serve 10 months in prison for falsifying information about the sale of a handgun used to kill South Bend Police Cpl. Nick Polizzotto and wound Patrolman Michael Norby.

Ronald Wedge, 72, was sentenced in federal court Wednesday for selling the small 22-caliber gun to Scott Barnaby. Barnaby was also killed in the shootout at the Wooden Indian Motel.

Wedge changed his plea to guilty in September, and as a result, one of the three charges against him was dropped. His recommended sentence was also lowered from 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine to 6 to 12 months in prison or probation with at least six months of house arrest and a $250,000 fine.

Comments Wedge made in an exclusive interview with WSBT following that plea may have helped add to his sentence.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Miller said he had no reason to believe Wedge could pay any sort of fine, so he imposed no monetary penalty beyond the $200 mandatory court cost. He also waived Wedge's mandatory pre-incarceration drug test, and chose not to impose a suggested 2 to 3 year supervised release or probation program upon Wedge's release from prison.

"I'm bound to make mistakes," Wedge told WSBT during that exclusive sit down interview in September. "It was the only mistake I ever made in my life."

They were the words that may have changed everything.

At Tuesday's sentencing hearing, U.S. Attorney Donald Schmid introduced WSBT's interview with Wedge as evidence. He then called his first witness. South Bend Police Detective Sergeant and special liaison to the ATF Task Force Lucas Battani testified that agents took 30 random samples of firearm transaction records written over the past two years from Wedge's Hole in the Wall gun shop in Bristol.

Det. Sgt. Battani said 25 of the 30 didn't include the proper ID records, 22 were post dated before the applicant's federal background check cleared, and 3 had no federal background check information at all.

Polizzotto's family says that makes it crystal clear this isn't Wedge's first mistake.

"This is the only time he's been caught," said Nick's brother Tony Polizzotto. "It's not the first mistake he's made. It's the first time he's been caught."

But Tony says something else bothers him even more.

"[He could] say 'I feel horrible.' [He could say] 'I made a mistake,' even if you don't! He never once said that, and again today, not one word," he said.

"For that I have no respect for the man," added South Bend Police Chief Tom Fautz. "He had a chance, now, today, to show remorse and apologize to both the Polizzotto family and the Barnaby family, and he passed up that chance."

Instead, Wedge simply told the judge he's "old ... and sometimes forgetful."

But as he left the courthouse, he refused to answer WSBT's question of whether he has remorse for his crime, instead responding quietly with "you guys got all the answers."

Now, as he prepares for prison, the Polizzotto family prepares to move on. But one thing is making the search for closure never ending.

"[Wedge] is going to be back out in 10 months — back to his family," Tony said. "My nephew has no father because of his actions."

Tony and Chief Fautz say they're disappointed in the sentence, because they felt Wedge's actions warranted the full 10 years in prison.

Wedge cannot appeal under the terms of the plea deal. He will report to federal prison on Jan. 16.

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