WABASH CO. – Jeremy Birkla, the now 21-year-old man directly associated with the 2011 beating death of Billy Gunzel, was arrested over the weekend on a pair of drug charges which could directly violate the terms of his 30 months’ probation that he was sentenced to in July of 2012 in connection to Gunzel’s death.
Billy Gunzel
Gunzel died on October 12, 2011 from injuries sustained in an altercation with Birkla at Gunzel’s residence at 202 West 11th Street, in Mt. Carmel.
Birkla was picked up in Mt. Carmel on Friday by local police and charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The real Birkla.
Birkla’s slap-on-the-wrist sentence for Involuntary Manslaughter in the Gunzel case was deliberated over and finally reached by Judge Stephen Sawyer on July 9, 2012. Sawyer claimed to have made a “tough decision,” when he bought (hook, line, and sinker) Birkla’s supposed life turnaround and coming-to-Jesus, thusly ordering him to periodic, scheduled incarceration for 364 days, with time in between to attend church and school, along with 30 months of probation.
Birkla’s come-to-Jesus moment was widely accepted as a last-ditch effort by Birkla to save his own skin and stay out of DOC.
Stay tuned to Disclosure for details as they emerge.