Hamilton Avenue murders

Last updated

Hamilton Avenue murders
Part of mass shootings in the United States
DateJune 1, 2006
VenueHouse on 560 North Hamilton Avenue
LocationIndianapolis, Indiana
MotiveUnknown
Deaths7
Non-fatal injuries0
ConvictedJames Stewart and Desmond Turner

The Hamilton Avenue murders is the colloquial name for the mass murder of seven people in a house at 560 North Hamilton Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana, on June 1, 2006.

Contents

Incident

According to the television program America's Most Wanted , the Indianapolis Police Department responded to a 911 call just after 10:00 p.m. They found seven dead victims, three of whom were children. The victims were shot with a military-style weapon, police charged. Evidence technicians recovered 23 discharged 7.62x39mm cartridge casings from the scene. These cartridges accommodate high velocity bullets used in AK-47 and SKS-type rifles. [1]

Witnesses said two suspects were seen entering the house shortly before the murders were believed to have taken place. Flora Albarran arrived with a friend to pick up her son around 10:00 p.m. Albarran's brother, Magno, also arrived about the same time. Both noticed that the house lights were out, which they knew was odd. When Flora Albarran entered, witnesses said she screamed to her friend not to come in. The suspects were seen leaving through the front door moments later. [2]

Victims

The victims were identified as: [3] [4] [5]

Perpetrators

Police identified the suspects as James Stewart and Desmond Turner. A reported motive for the murders was both men were looking for cash and cocaine inside of a safe. [6]

Stewart was arrested without incident the following day. Turner, who had finished a four-year stint in prison only six months before, was the subject of a widespread manhunt by local, state, and federal authorities. He was captured on June 3, two days after the murders, when he turned himself in without incident at a Hardee's restaurant on Indianapolis's east side. [7] [8]

Prosecutors charged Turner and Stewart with seven counts of murder, seven counts of felony murder, seven counts of criminal confinement, robbery, burglary, carrying a handgun without a license (Stewart), and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon (Stewart). [9] Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty against Turner, but eventually dropped that request and sought a sentence of life without parole in exchange for Turner agreeing to waive his right to a trial by jury and instead be tried before a judge only. [10] Both suspects maintained their innocence, but Stewart's girlfriend claimed that he admitted his role in the shootings. [11]

Turner was convicted of seven counts of felony murder, seven counts of criminal confinement, burglary, and robbery and was sentenced on November 20, 2009, to life imprisonment without parole plus 88 years. [12] On September 28, 2011, the Indiana Supreme Court unanimously affirmed Turner's convictions and sentence in full. [1]

Stewart was convicted of seven counts of felony murder, six counts of criminal confinement, robbery, burglary, carrying a handgun without a license, and being a habitual offender; he was sentenced on January 6, 2010 to 425 years in prison. [13] On April 18, 2011, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed all of Stewart's convictions and sentences except for the robbery conviction and resulting four-year sentence, which it vacated because that conviction violated the constitutional protections against double jeopardy. [14] The opinion left Stewart with a 425-year aggregate sentence. The Indiana Supreme Court denied a review of the Stewart appeal on September 28, 2011, the same day it rejected Turner's appeal.

Aftermath

The house was set on fire in an arson attack on August 23, 2008. It was demolished on July 16, 2010. [15]

Related Research Articles

The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime, the offender, and also the offender's accomplices or co-conspirators, may be found guilty of murder.

In the United States, habitual offender laws have been implemented since at least 1952, and are part of the United States Justice Department's Anti-Violence Strategy. These laws require a person who is convicted of an offense and who has one or two other previous serious convictions to serve a mandatory life sentence in prison, with or without parole depending on the jurisdiction. The purpose of the laws is to drastically increase the punishment of those who continue to commit offenses after being convicted of one or two serious crimes.

A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching intent of a hot prowl burglary can be theft, robbery, assault, sexual assault, murder, kidnapping, or another crime, either by stealth or direct force. Hot prowl burglaries are considered especially dangerous by law enforcement because of the potential for a violent confrontation between the occupant and the offender.

On May 22, 1995, 16-year-old Jimmy Farris, the son of a Los Angeles Police Department officer, was stabbed to death. Farris and his friend, Michael McLoren, were next to a clubhouse-type fort in McLoren's backyard. Four acquaintances of Farris and McLoren jumped the chainlink fence and approached the fort. There was a fight inside the fort. Farris and McLoren went into the house, bleeding from stab wounds, while the other four climbed back over the fence and left. Farris died before paramedics arrived. McLoren was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Goudeau</span> American serial killer and rapist on death row

Mark Goudeau is an American serial killer, kidnapper, thief and rapist. Goudeau terrorized victims in the Phoenix metro area between August 2005 and June 2006; coincidentally, Goudeau was active at the same time as two other Phoenix serial killers, jointly known as the "Serial Shooters.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Irvin (serial killer)</span> American serial killer (b. 1924, d. 1983)

Leslie "Joe Goebbels" Irvin was an American serial killer whose killing spree in the early 1950s terrorized residents of southwestern Indiana and whose Supreme Court case set a precedent for ensuring a fair trial for defendants even in the wake of a great deal of pretrial publicity.

Richard Alexander is an Indiana man who was wrongfully convicted of rape and later exonerated by DNA evidence. Years later, on September 17, 2020, Alexander was charged with the murder of Catherine Minix, who was found stabbed to death. Minix had previously filed a protective order against Alexander for domestic violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom</span> 2007 carjacking, rape, and murder of a couple in Knoxville, Tennessee

Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They were kidnapped on the evening of January 6, 2007, when Christian's vehicle was carjacked. The couple were taken to a rental house. Both of them were raped, tortured, and murdered. Four males and one female were arrested, charged, and convicted in the case. In 2007, a grand jury indicted Letalvis Darnell Cobbins, Lemaricus Devall Davidson, George Geovonni Thomas, and Vanessa Lynn Coleman on counts of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder. Also in 2007, Eric DeWayne Boyd was indicted by a federal grand jury of being an accessory to a carjacking, resulting in serious bodily injury to another person and misprision of a felony. In 2018, Boyd was indicted on state-level charges of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder.

Nireah Johnson was an African American trans woman who was murdered in Indianapolis, Indiana along with her friend Brandie Coleman, by Paul Moore, after Moore discovered that Johnson was transgender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O. J. Simpson robbery case</span> 2008 US criminal case

State of Nevada v. Orenthal James Simpson, et al, Case Number: 07C237890-4. was a criminal case prosecuted in 2007–2008 in the U.S. state of Nevada, primarily involving the retired American football player O. J. Simpson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Holle</span> American convicted under the felony murder rule for lending a car to a friend

Ryan Joseph Holle is an American convict found guilty in 2004 of first-degree murder under the felony murder rule for lending his car to a friend after the friend and others at a party discussed their plans to steal drugs and money and beat up the 18-year-old daughter of Christine Snyder. A former resident of Pensacola, Florida, United States, he is now serving a sentence of 25 years at the Marion Correctional Facility after his life without the possibility of parole sentence was commuted by Governor Rick Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burger Chef murders</span> 1978 quadruple homicide case

The Burger Chef murders took place at a Burger Chef restaurant in Speedway, Indiana, United States, on the night of Friday, November 17, 1978. Four young employees went missing in what was initially thought to be a petty theft of cash from the restaurant's safe. By Saturday morning it became a clear case of robbery-kidnapping, and by Sunday, when their bodies were discovered, a case of murder. While investigators believe they have identified some or all of the perpetrators, without physical evidence they have not been able to prosecute those who remain alive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Jo Pender</span> American murderer

Sarah Jo Pender is an American woman convicted along with her former boyfriend, Richard Edward Hull, of murdering their roommates, Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman, on October 24, 2000, in Indiana. She has claimed ever since that she is victim of a wrongful conviction. She came to national attention in August 2008 after she escaped from the Rockville Correctional Facility and was featured on America's Most Wanted. She was recaptured by police in December at a house in Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armed Career Criminal Act</span> 1984 United States federal law

The Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984 (ACCA) is a United States federal law that provides sentence enhancements for felons who commit crimes with firearms if they are convicted of certain crimes three or more times. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter was a key proponent for the legislation.

The murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings occurred on or around July 9, 2009, in Pensacola, Florida, United States. Byrd Billings, 66, and his wife, Melanie, 43, were found shot to death on July 9, 2009. The suspects, dressed in "ninja garb," stole a safe and other items during the break-in at the sprawling Billings home west of Pensacola. Nine of their children were home at the time, but were not hurt by the intruders. The family's attorney said that the safe contained jewelry, family papers, and prescription medications.

The Richmond Hill explosion took place on November 10, 2012, in the Richmond Hill subdivision in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The home of Monserrate Shirley was the center of the explosion that resulted in the deaths of next-door neighbors John "Dion" Longworth and his wife Jennifer, the injuries of seven others, and $4 million in property damage. Prosecutors alleged that the natural gas explosion was intentionally set to collect insurance money. Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and three others were convicted and sentenced to prison on various charges, including felony murder for Leonard.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Georgia. Georgia reintroduced the death penalty in 1973 after Furman v. Georgia ruled all states' death penalty statutes unconstitutional. The first execution to take place afterwards occurred in 1983.

Capital punishment in Missouri first used in 1810 is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Missouri.

The Pearcy murders took place on November 11 or 12, 2009 in Pearcy, Arkansas, a small town in the center of the state right outside of Hot Springs. A total of four related people and the girlfriend of one victim were shot to death during two burglaries; four bodies were found in a mobile home belonging to victims Edward Gentry Jr. and his wife Pam. The mobile home had been burned to destroy evidence. The fifth victim, Edward Gentry Sr., was found in another structure on the property. Jeremy Pickney, Marvin Stringer and Samuel Conway, all in their early twenties, were quickly identified as suspects due to their possessing stolen goods from the Gentry trailer. Stringer was killed during a shootout in a police raid when authorities attempted to arrest him at the Red Roof Inn on East Grand Ave.

Murder in Indiana law constitutes the intentional killing, under circumstances defined by law, of people within or under the jurisdiction of the U.S. state of Indiana.

References

  1. 1 2 Indiana Supreme Court (September 28, 2011). "Desmond Turner v. State of Indiana". Indiana Appellate Decisions. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  2. ↑ America's Most Wanted, "Seven Family Members Slain; Manhunt Underway", June 2, 2006 Archived June 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ IndyStar.com, "The Seven Victims" [ dead link ]
  4. ↑ "Funeral mass held for slaying victim". WTHR. June 6, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  5. ↑ "After killings, Indianapolis remembers". NBC News. June 1, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Motive In Indianapolis Bloodbath". CBS News. June 6, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Man Suspected in Killings of 7 Turns Self In". The New York Times. June 4, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  8. ↑ "WTHR.com, "Desmond Turner Surrenders to Police " June 5, 2006". Archived from the original on July 15, 2007. Retrieved June 2, 2007.
  9. ↑ http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/09281101rdr.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  10. ↑ Indianapolis Star, "Prosecutors Wrap Up Case in Hamilton Avenue Slayings", October 22, 2009 Archived December 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ Indianapolis Star, "Hamilton Ave. Victims Honored", June 1, 2007 Archived October 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ IndyStar.com: Justice Watch, "Life Plus 88 Years in Prison for Turner", November 20, 2009 Archived January 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Indianapolis Star, "Hamilton Ave. Killer Gets 425 Years", January 6, 2010 Archived December 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Court of Appeals of Indiana (April 18, 2011). "James Stewart v. State of Indiana". Indiana Appellate Decisions. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  15. ↑ Dumandan, Joy (July 16, 2010). "City razes Hamilton Ave mass murder home". WISH-TV . Archived from the original on July 19, 2010. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.