Grieving dad would punch bailiffs again

Given the chance, the father charged with decking several bailiffs in Family Court would wallop them again.

"The same situation would result," said Geoffrey Wells, who was convicted of three battery-related gross misdemeanors and one misdemeanor in the altercation.

District Judge James Bixler on Thursday ran the sentences concurrently. With the 127 days in custody that Wells already has served, that gives him about six months in jail.

The offenses were probational, but defense attorney Casey Landis said Wells, 36, did not want to be released under supervision.

His ex-wife, Maria Wells, said she hoped for at least a year in custody.

"As you can see, he hasn't changed," she said after the sentencing.

The couple's 12-year-old son killed himself in 2005 with one of Geoffrey Wells' guns, which he previously had been ordered to keep locked up.

At a divorce hearing in December in which Family Court Judge Cheryl Moss admonished him for failing to lock up his guns at the time of his son's death, Wells began talking back to the judge.

When a bailiff approached him from behind to restrain him, Wells, who served as a Marine in Somalia and the Persian Gulf War, turned around and hit him as well as other bailiffs who had hurried over to provide backup.

"Emotionally you're a wreck over the whole situation, which is understandable but not an excuse," Bixler said.

Prosecutor Eric Bauman asked for a 3 1/2-year sentence for Wells, who was on probation for child neglect -- a charge stemming from his son's death -- when the fight occurred.

"Mr. Wells showed a shocking lack of respect for the justice system," Bauman said.