Indiana
2nd mistrial declared in Indiana case of slain pastor’s wife
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A choose declared a second mistrial Monday for a person charged within the 2015 killing of a pastor’s spouse after jurors discovered particulars concerning the Indianapolis case’s lengthy historical past within the court docket system.
Larry Jo Taylor Jr.’s trial was scheduled to start Monday, however Marion Superior Decide Grant Hawkins declared a mistrial after a juror informed different jurors concerning the case’s historical past, together with {that a} mistrial had been declared throughout Taylor’s first trial in December, The Indianapolis Star reported.
Taylor’s trial has now been rescheduled to August. Taylor is one among three males police say have been concerned in a string of November 2015 residence invasions on Indianapolis’ north aspect that ended when Amanda Blackburn, 28, was fatally shot in her residence whereas 12 weeks pregnant together with her second baby.
She was slain two years after she and her husband, pastor Davey Blackburn, moved to Indianapolis from South Carolina to discovered Resonate Church, which was shuttered in 2019.
Hawkins had declared a mistrial in Taylor’s first trial after studying some jurors knew Blackburn had been pregnant — a truth protection attorneys efficiently moved to maintain from the jury.
Taylor, 25, faces 13 costs, together with homicide, housebreaking and prison confinement whereas armed with a lethal weapon.
Taylor’s two co-defendants accepted plea offers on the situation they’d cooperate in his prosecution. Jalen E. Watson pleaded responsible in 2017 to theft and housebreaking costs. He was sentenced in March 2021 to 29 years for the theft cost and 20 mixed years for the housebreaking costs, and ordered to serve the sentences concurrently.
Diano Cortez Gordon pleaded responsible in 2018 to theft leading to severe bodily harm and housebreaking costs. His sentencing has not but been scheduled.