Slain deputy’s daughter pleads for no parole for his killer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The daughter of a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot during a 1972 bank robbery urged the Indiana Parole Board to reject his convicted killer’s latest bid for parole and keep him behind bars.

Dawn Veirs told parole board members Monday that her father, Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy Tom Settles, was slain eight months before she was born. Veirs choked back tears as she told the panel that she’s never heard her father’s voice and he never saw his grandchildren.

Veirs and other relatives of Settles testified against parole for Billy Ray Adams. He was convicted of killing Settles in February 1972 as the officer responded to a bank robbery on Indianapolis’ far east side.

The parole board will hear from Adams on Jan. 12. He’s serving a life sentence.