Bibby gets 60 years for role in 2018 shootout
Apr. 19—OTTUMWA — Two Ottumwa men convicted in a mixed verdict for their roles in a 2018 botched robbery and shootout with police were sentenced to prison on Monday.
Michael Bibby, 35, of Ottumwa, was sentenced by Judge Joel Yates to a total of 60 years in prison.
Bibby was found guilty by the jury of attempted murder of former police chief Tom McAndrew, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and willful injury causing serious injury. The jury also found Bibby guilty of assault with intent to cause serious injury of robbery victim Colt Stewart, a lesser offense of the original charge of attempted murder.
Later on Monday, 26-year-old Dalton Cook, of Ottumwa, was sentenced to a total of 35 years in prison.
The jury acquitted Cook on the charge of attempted murder of McAndrew, but found he was guilty of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and willful injury causing serious injury of Stewart by aiding and abetting.
Cook was also found guilty of assault causing serious injury by the jury, but that conviction was erased on Monday. Cook's attorney Bob Breckenridge argued, with no objection from the state, that conviction on that charge should not be entered because it is a lesser included offense of willful injury. The judge agreed.
Coming into the trial, both Bibby and Cook each faced 13 counts. That list was shortened to five after Judge Joel Yates ruled the state didn't have evidence to prove the suspects intended to kill eight of the nine police officers included in charges during the shootout. That wiped 200 years of potential prison time and eight counts of attempted murder off the table.
A botched armed robbery and ensuing shootout with police on Aug. 3, 2018, is what led to charges for Bibby and Cook. Prosecutors said they were with another man, David Roy White, of Fairfield, when they robbed and burglarized a home at 831 S. Lillian St. in Ottumwa.
There, Bibby shot Stewart in the leg with an AR-15 style rifle, leaving Stewart with serious and lasting injuries. When Stewart came to testify in the trial, he said he is still in pain. He entered the courtroom last week with a hobble and a cane.
From there, the three men went west toward Liberty Elementary School. Police converged, and Bibby began trading fire with officers.
White was fatally shot. Bibby was shot and injured. Cook escaped from the group to a wooded area southwest of the school, but was later found in a creek by an officer.
Kyle Ocker is the editor of the Ottumwa Courier and the Oskaloosa Herald. He can be reached at kocker@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kyle_Ocker.
