GUILTY IN - Lt. Aaron Allen, 38, fatally shot, Homecroft, 27 July 2017 *Arrest*

[JerseyGirl]

https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-new...in-shooting-death-of-southport-lt-aaron-allan

Marion Superior Judge Mark Stoner said he will announce Tuesday at 11 A.M. his verdict in the trial of Jason Brown, who’s accused of murdering Southport Police Lieutenant Aaron Allan.

 

[FrostedGlass]

I sure don't envy the judge on this case.

I was curious about the murder charge and I found this pretty simple explanation as to what it takes to prove it.
(Snips from the article linked below)

The different types of homicide are murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless homicide.

Going by the books, murder in Indiana is defined as the planned killing of one person by another person with malice.

Malice is the key word and describes the state of mind of the person charged in the killing.

There are five categories in proving malice:

1. Intent to kill
2. Determination to cause great bodily harm
3. Intent to commit a dangerous felony
4. Committed to resist lawful arrest
5. Determined to commit an act regardless if it results in the death of another person.

For a murder charge to stick, a prosecutor must prove just one of the above “states of mind” of the accused person.

***
Remember, a murder charge places a lot of emphasis on a person’s state of mind. So, it’s no surprise that most effective murder defenses flow from attacking that requirement.

Examples include:

• Lack of intent. For example, someone is shot because they were mistaken for an intruder entering the home late at night.
• Self-defense. A new law in Indiana gives people the right to protect themselves without fear of criminal penalties.
• Intoxication. Unexpected things can happen when people have had too much to drink. In many cases, high levels of intoxication have been enough to downgrade murder charges to those with less stiff penalties.
• Insanity. The key to this defense is proving you did not mentally understand your behavior was wrong when the killing occurred.

The Truth About Murder Laws in Indiana - Suhre & Associates, LLC

 

[FrostedGlass]

Below are a couple of snips from day 3 testimony; I'm not understanding why he wasn't tested for drugs.

Forensic drug chemist Dustin Crawford from Indy Crime Lab testified that he tested material recovered on a digital scale in the glove box of Jason Brown's car, and it was marijuana. There was also testimony that a bag filled with several smaller baggies of suspected marijuana was found in Brown's car.
IMPD crash investigator Douglas Heustis testified that Brown's BMW was traveling at least 65 mph when he left Madison Avenue and crashed, flipping into a yard and through a fence.
Heustis testified that his crash investigation report was amended in 2018 to correct that a blood test for drugs and alcohol was not taken for Jason Brown on the day of the crash, which the original report indicated it was taken. On cross-examination, Heustis said he was never given an edict to get a blood draw from Brown for drugs and alcohol testing. He said a blood test needs to be taken within 3 hours of an incident for use in prosecution.

Jason Brown's trial to begin for killing of Southport Lt. Allan | wthr.com

 

[FrostedGlass]

More snips from the same link as above. My head almost explodes when people talk about drugs being a victimless crime.

Day 6
Teresa Brown (his mother) witness for the prosecution:
"Teresa testified that she was using meth when she was pregnant with Jason. Jason tested positive for meth when he was born and was just 4 lbs, 13 oz at birth. Jason's father was manufacturing meth and went to prison when Jason was still a baby.

Teresa said Jason was dropped on concrete when he was 5 months old and was hospitalized with skull fractures. Teresa said her boyfriend slammed Jason's head against the wall when Jason was 14. The boyfriend broke his arm in the incident, and DCS was involved.

Teresa recalls Jason calling her when he had smoked spice and bit his girlfriend around 2015. Jason was scared, and Teresa went over to check on him. She also remembers Jason telling her about a bad incident with a stripper and using spice."

Day 5
Houston neurologist Dr. Pamela Blake:
"Brown told Blake that he started using marijuana in fifth grade. When he was 22 years old, he said he remembered passing out after smoking spice. Blake said Brown told her that he started using cocaine Jan. 1, 2017. By the time of crash and shooting in July, Brown told Blake he was using cocaine daily, snorting up to 10 times a day."

 

[FrostedGlass]

The verdict is expected to come in around 11:00 am today; here's the defense attorney's take on how it should go:

"We asked Turner if the judge could convict her client of a lesser charge in the death of Officer Allan or Brown could be set free if Stoner refuses to find him guilty of murder.

“There’s always the potential,” she said, “but given what the lesser charges are in the state of Indiana, all of them require some level of awareness, all of them require some level of consciousness, even reckless homicide, you have to know that you’re doing something reckless, right, so, because we don’t have that because what happened to Jason is that he didn’t know, none of the lessers fit, so, yeah, we’re at an all-or-nothing type situation.”

Both Allan’s family and the prosecutor refused to comment regarding the closing arguments."

Final arguments heard in Lt. Allan murder trial

 

[FrostedGlass]

INDIANAPOLIS — A judge has made a guilty ruling in the killing of a Southport police lieutenant.

Marion Superior Judge Mark Stoner found Jason Brown guilty for fatally shooting 38-year-old Southport Lt. Aaron Allan on July 27, 2017. Allan was shot 11 times when he stopped to help Brown after he crashed his car on Madison Avenue on the south side of Indianapolis.

Brown now faces up to 65 years in prison. His sentencing will be announced at a later date.

Jason Brown verdict announced

 

[FrostedGlass]

There is a sentencing date:

04/08/2022 = Sentencing Hearing
Session: 04/08/2022 9:30 AM, Judicial Officer: Stoner, Mark D
Comment: In person

 

[FrostedGlass]

Update:

03/22/2022 = Motion for Continuance Filed
Defendant's Motion to Continue Sentencing Hearing (defense pleading #199)
Filed By: Brown, Jason Dane

04/08/2022 = Sentencing Hearing
Session: 04/08/2022 9:30 AM, Judicial Officer: Stoner, Mark D
Comment: In person

 

[FrostedGlass]

Update:

04/05/2022 = Hearing Scheduling Activity
Sentencing Hearing originally scheduled on 04/08/2022 at 9:30 AM was rescheduled to 05/20/2022 at 9:00 AM. Reason: By Request.

04/06/2022 = Motion Filed
Defendant's Motion for Order for Progress Report (defense pleading #200)
Filed By: Brown, Jason Dane

05/20/2022 = Sentencing Hearing
Session: 04/08/2022 9:30 AM, Rescheduled
Session: 05/20/2022 9:00 AM, Judicial Officer: Stoner, Mark D
Comment: In person

 

[FrostedGlass]

04/08/2022 = Transport Order Entered From DOC.

04/21/2022 = Motion for Continuance Filed
Defendant's Second Motion to Continue Sentencing Hearing (defense pleading #201)
Filed By: Brown, Jason Dane

04/26/2022 = Attorney Conference
Session: 04/26/2022 1:15 PM, Judicial Officer: Stoner, Mark D
Result: Commenced and concluded

04/26/2022 = Notice of Exclusion of Confidential Information
Filed By: State of Indiana

04/26/2022 = Pre-Sentence Investigation Report Filed
Filed By: State of Indiana

04/26/2022 = Hearing Journal Entry
Hearing held. Court denies Defense motion to continue.

05/06/2022 = Sentencing Hearing
Session: 04/08/2022 9:30 AM, Rescheduled
Session: 05/20/2022 9:00 AM, Rescheduled
Session: 05/06/2022 9:00 AM, Judicial Officer: Stoner, Mark D

 

[FrostedGlass]

A few last minute filings:

05/04/2022 = Correspondence to/from Court Filed
State Victim Impact Statements.pdf
Filed By: State of Indiana

05/05/2022 = Correspondence to/from Court Filed
Additional State Victim Impact Statement.pdf
Filed By: State of Indiana

05/05/2022 = Notice of Exclusion of Confidential Information
Notice of Exclusion (Defense Pleading #202)
Filed By: Brown, Jason Dane

05/05/2022 = Notice to Court Filed
Defendant's Notice of Submission of Evidence (Defense pleading #203)
Filed By: Brown, Jason Dane

05/05/2022 = Report Filed
Neurological Report
Filed By: Brown, Jason Dane

05/06/2022 = Sentencing Hearing
Session: 05/06/2022 8:30 AM, Judicial Officer: Stoner, Mark D
Comment: In person. 8 am start time.

 

[FrostedGlass]

Man convicted of killing Southport Lt. Aaron Allan sentenced to 55 years in prison

INDIANAPOLIS — The man convicted of shooting and killing Southport Police Lieutenant Aaron Allan was sentenced to 55 years in prison. The sentence for Jason Brown is for a total of 58 years, with 5…

fox59.com

The sentence for Jason Brown is for a total of 58 years, with 55 years in prison and 3 years suspended to probation. Brown was found guilty of killing Lieutenant Allan after a crash in 2017.

Brown planned to appeal the sentence. The judge also ordered mental health and substance abuse counseling after he serves his prison time.

 

[FrostedGlass]

Man who killed Southport officer appeals murder conviction, questions use of urine sample used as evidence

INDIANAPOLIS – The attorney for the man convicted of killing Southport Lieutenant Aaron Allan in 2017 believes her client should have his conviction reduced from murder to voluntary manslaughter. D…

fox59.com

Defense attorney Ann Sutton believes urine analysis results were improperly used against Jason Brown during the 2022 bench trial that resulted in a guilty verdict and a 55-year sentence.
...
Prosecutors originally planned to seek the death penalty in the case. However, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears agreed to waive the death penalty if Brown waived his right to a jury trial.

His murder case:
49D32-1708-MR-028177
35-42-1-1(1): Murder
35-48-4-11(a)(1)/MA: Possession of Marijuana

His appeal
22A-CR-01241

Indiana Courts Case Search - MyCase

Indiana Supreme Court, Public Access

public.courts.in.gov

 

[FrostedGlass]

I'm bumping this up because this is the rare DP case that I've followed.
Here is the case number:

Indiana Courts Case Search - MyCase

Indiana Supreme Court, Public Access

public.courts.in.gov

49S00-1710-DP-00636

This may be of interest to anyone who has been following the Richard Allen case out of Delphi, IN. The right to council of choice is at the heart of it but I don't know it's applied equally to all cases or just DP cases.

Jason Brown was indigent but he wanted the atty of his choice, which was not from the public defenders office.
He filed an interlocutory appeal; this was one of the issues:

2. The issue to be placed before this Court is whether the trial court abused its discretion
in appointing counsel to represent Brown. More specifically, the issues are (1) Whether
a capitally-charged indigent defendant who has chosen counsel to represent him
can have appointed counsel forced upon him against his will and (2) Whether the
trial court’s interference With Brown’s right to counsel violated his rights under
the Sixth Amendment t0 the United States Constitution and Article 1, § 13 of the
Indiana Constitution?