Zachary Christian has been found guilty of domestic battery, but not the Level 6 felony charge of criminal confinement, according to the Starke County Prosecutor’s Office. Christian was accused of hitting a woman, refusing to let her move from a couch, and trying to take her phone when she tried to call police, in an incident back in February.
Trial to Begin Today in Starke Circuit Court
An Anderson man accused of striking a woman will have to face a jury of his peers in a trial set to begin in Starke Circuit Court today.
Trial Begins Today in Starke Circuit Court
A 12-member jury will be seated this morning in a trial that is expected to take approximately three days in Starke Circuit Court.
Verdict Returned in Starke County Jury Trial
A Starke County man was found guilty by a 12-member jury in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday on a charge of domestic battery as a Level 6 felony.
The jury found that David Spohn battered his wife after an argument escalated over another woman. Spohn punched her in the head, causing her to fall. He then held her down and continued to hit her resulting in a chip fracture in her back and a contusion on a rib.
Spohn was on home detention for a prior felony conviction when he committed this offense.
Starke County Prosecutor Nicholas Bourff says Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mary Ryan presented several witnesses, including the victim, two eye-witnesses and Officer James Conklin with the Starke County Sheriff’s Office.
Spohn will be sentenced by Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall on Thursday, March 29 at 2 p.m. Bourff says that a Level 6 felony carries a potential penalty of six to 30 months in the Starke County Justice Center.
Verdicts Back in Starke Circuit Court Trial
Verdicts have returned in a jury trial in Starke Circuit Court.
Eric Taylor was found not guilty on charges of dealing in methamphetamine, a Class B felony, and possession of chemical reagents or precursors with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine, a Class D felony. The jury was deadlocked on the last four counts for a mistrial. Those counts included possession of methamphetamine, possession of a syringe, maintaining a common nuisance, and possession of paraphernalia.
Jury Returns Guilty Verdict on 6 of the 7 Charges Brooke Case
A jury of 8 men and four women has returned a guilty verdict on 6 of the seven charges against John Brooke in Starke Circuit
Court. The trial was conducted in front of Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall.
A stoic John Brooke heard the guilty verdict given, while friends and family in the gallery wept.
He was convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery, Intimidation, Possession and Manufacturing Destructive Devices, Resisting Law Enforcement,
Unlawful Use of Body Armour, and Assisting a Criminal.
The only count he was found not guilty on was a seventh charge, possession of a destructive device.
Sentencing has been set by Judge Hall for May 12th. at 10:00.
Brooke was part of a potentially deadly situation at Bass Lake in February of 2010 in which an occupant in his home opened fire on Starke County Police officers who were trying to serve an Illinois warrant. Michael Drogosz, the shooter in that incident was sentenced to a lengthy prison term in August.
We’ll have more information in the morning.
