Man who beat another to death at Middletown bar gets life term
A Middletown man pleaded guilty Wednesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court to murder for the beating death of a man in a Middletown bar last winter.
Brian Ingram, 52, was indicted in March for punching and kicking a patron, Phillip Taulbee, on Feb. 25 at Billy T’s on Tytus Avenue.
Taulbee, 56, of Middletown, died a day after the incident at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.
Police were called to Billy T’s at 8 p.m. that night for a bar fight. Officers found Taulbee had been severely assaulted. In a 911 call to police, a woman said a man was “knocked out” and lying on the ground. There was a video of the incident.
In July during a pretrial hearing, Ingram said he no longer wanted the attorney he retained, Frank Schiavone III, to represent him. Ingram’s July trial date was continued and he hired a new attorney, Muhammad Hamidullah.
Ingram’s new trial date was scheduled for Nov. 15 by Judge Keith Spaeth. He has been held in the Butler County Jail in lieu of $300,000 bond.
In exchange for the guilty plea to murder, the felonious assault charge with a repeat violent offender specification was dismissed.
Spaeth then sentenced Ingram to a mandatory sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 15 years.
Ingram offered an apology before he was sentenced, stating, “This has torn me apart.”
Ingram and his attorney said he reacted after hearing a story relayed to him by another person. And he was intoxicated at that time.
“I had no idea the severity of his injuries,” Ingram said. “When I found out, I turned myself in.”
He turned to Taulbee’s family and said he only remembers “bits and pieces” of that night.
“I didn’t even know the gen
tleman (Taulbee),” Ingram said. “I wished I could take his place. I would.”
Maria Taulbee stood a few feet from Ingram and said, “You murdered Dad.”
She said before the attack, Ingram went to his vehicle and put on gloves to protect his hands.
“Why would you attack somebody you didn’t even know?” Maria Taulbee said. “You are an evil, callus coward.”