IndyStar.com: Crime & Courts
Indiana's leading news source for all the top stories, local news, sports and weather.
Hearing today for man accused of beating legislator
NOBLESVILLE — A man accused of severely beating a state legislator will have his first appearance in court today. Augustus Mendenhall, 38, will appear via closed-circuit television about 1:15 p.m. today in Hamilton County Magistrate Court....
Homicide numbers declining
Community policing cited in bid to keep total under 100 Indianapolis public safety officials in January set a bold goal: finish the year with fewer than 100 homicides. Many were skeptical. After all, Marion County law enforcement agencies have not...
Ex-Colts lineman held in battery case
A former Indianapolis Colt faces new trouble with the law. Chijoke Nwokorie was arrested on preliminary battery charges this morning by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. The arrest followed an incident at a Downtown night club....
Man dies in Eastside apartment shooting
An Indianapolis man was the victim of an apparent homicide on the Eastside last night. Jonathan E. Brewster, 24, was found about 8:40 p.m. Saturday night in the 2100 block of Sussex Lane, near 21st Street and Post Road. Indianapolis Metropolitan...
Mayor: Crime not solution to need
Those requiring help are urged to contact social service agencies Inspired in part by the media spotlight on the so-called “praying robber,” Mayor Greg Ballard stood Friday with two dozen social service providers and urged people facing...
Death penalty trial in '05 triple killing set
A judge has set a death penalty trial in June for a man accused of killing his mother and two grandparents and burying their bodies in concrete. Kenneth Lee Allen, 33, faces murder charges in the 2005 killings in Noblesville and Indianapolis. After...
Hijackers grab Indy liquor shipment
Two men hijacked a liquor shipment on the Near Southside after beating and handcuffing the driver early today. The driver, from Wisconsin, had pulled a semi-tractor trailer up to National Wine and Spirit at 700 W. Morris St. around midnight when two...
Driver dies in stolen wrecker
HAMLET, Ind. — Police say a man driving a stolen wrecker was killed when it plunged off a northern Indiana highway overpass and struck a bridge abutment. The Starke County Sheriff’s Department says the wrecker pulling a van had been taken...
Baby found in trash bin puzzles authorities
Marion County authorities were scouring hospital records and death certificates to determine who placed an unborn fetus in a large trash bin more than three weeks ago. Marion County Chief Deputy Corner Alfarena Ballew said her investigators were...
Southern Indiana boy's death a homicide
The death of a 2-year-old Austin boy has been ruled a homicide. Jo-Ann Farmer, chief deputy coroner for Jefferson County, Ky., said Thursday that Jacob M. Lord died Wednesday at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville of an inflicted closed...
Driver charged with DUI after hitting squad car
A suspected drunken driver slammed into a police car, which was responding to a call on the Northside Thursday night. Police said Kevin J. Crossland, 56, broadsided the Indianapolis Metropolitan police squad car as it rushed south on the 5100 block...
Man shot during hold-up, in critical condition
A man was shot and critically injured in a Near Eastside hold-up, police said. Patrick Powell, 34, Indianapolis, was shot in the stomach in the 1900 block of North Cornell Avenue by one of two men who robbed him of $200, according to the Indianapolis...
3 shot outside Halloween party on Near Eastside
Three Indianapolis men were shot at a Halloween party on the Near Eastside late Thursday night. Indianapolis Metropolitan police said the shooting happened when a fight broke out on the 1500 block of North Olney Street just before midnight. Police...
Prosecutors prepare for trial of accused shooter of IMPD's Fishburn
Trial starts next week in patrolman’s shooting Marion County prosecutors are preparing for next week’s trial in the shooting of an Indianapolis police officer, a proceeding set for a courtroom nearly 150 miles away. The attempted murder...
Police: Carjacking claim bogus
A 34-year-old man was arrested this morning for falsely reporting that he was carjacked. Police said the suspect had let a friend borrow the car so he could buy them more drugs and thought calling police would get his car back faster. Kevin Muncie,...
State Police investigate death of Austin boy
A 2-year-old Indiana boy died Wednesday after being taken with serious injuries to Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Indiana State Police said. An autopsy on the boy, identified as Jacob M. Lord of Austin, will be conducted today, state...
Indictment of honored officer latest of IMPD's legal woes
Less than two years ago, Candi Perry was named the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s officer of the year. Then she was honored as the department’s top community policing officer for 2008. Now, Perry faces the possibility of...
Muncie home builder accused of voyeurism via secret camera
MUNCIE, Ind. — A Muncie home builder has been arrested on a voyeurism charge after, police said, he secretly installed a video camera in a woman’s home. David E. Keller, 66, who owns Chase Custom Homes, came to the woman’s Muncie...
Father gets 100 years for abuse that killed son
Jeffersonville — A judge has sentenced an Evansville man to 100 years in prison for abuse that killed his son and injured his daughter. A jury convicted Terry Lay, 42, last month on charges of reckless homicide and neglect in the April 2008...
Grand jury indicts officer; IMPD suspends her
An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer left jail today after being suspended without pay a day earlier and nearly a week after her indictment in relation to a homicide investigation. Candi Perry, a one-time IMPD Officer of the Year,...
Pair suspected in six Eastside holdups
Indianapolis metropolitan police said that six armed robberies, some of them violent, at or near an Eastside ATM could be linked to two suspects. The robberies occurred between Sept. 25 and Oct. 16 at the Chase ATM, 1215 N. Arlington Ave. or close...
IMPD officer breaks arm in pit bull attack
A police officer broke his arm fighting off an attack by a pit bull on the Northwestside. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Sgt. Ronald Brezik shattered his forearm near the wrist after he was attacked at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on the 4000 block of North...
Gang problem growing, IMPD official says
Indianapolis has a small but growing gang problem, and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has about 50 officers working on it, a police official said Tuesday. Deputy Chief William Benjamin told an audience of about 40 at Arlington High...
Attorney: 'Praying bandit' to seek mercy
He may have hugged the clerk. He may have prayed with her, too. But prosecutors say Gregory Smith’s contrition during a crime in progress doesn’t change the fact he still robbed a check cashing store. “One of the commandments is...
Charges filed against suspect in 2 robberies
A man accused of robbing a cashier after praying with her was in Marion Superior Court on Tuesday to face newly filed charges in that Far-Eastside incident and a separate robbery on the Eastside. Gregory Smith, 23, went on “The Oprah Winfrey...
Ex-bank worker pleads guilty to arson, theft
A would-be robber of the bank where he worked pleaded guilty Tuesday to a heist that quickly went awry. Dwayne Roberts, 31, faces up to 10 years in prison under his plea agreement with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to arson and theft in Marion...
Ex-bank manager admits heist attempt
A would-be robber of the bank where he worked pleaded guilty this afternoon to a heist that quickly went awry. Dwayne Roberts, 31, faces up to 10 years in prison under his plea agreement with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to arson and theft in...
Accused 'praying bandit' faces charges in 2 holdups
A man accused of robbing a cashier after praying with her was in Marion Superior Court this morning to face newly filed charges in that incident and another robbery. Gregory Smith, 23, went on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” via satellite last...
'Praying bandit' pleads not guilty
INDIANAPOLIS — A judge entered a not guilty plea for the man charged with being the armed robber who prayed with a clerk while holding up an Indianapolis check cashing business. Twenty-three-year-old Gregory Smith has acknowledged the robbery on...
Police: Man had drugs in controversial arrest
Muncie — A man whose relatives claimed he was beaten after being subdued with a stun gun during an arrest was carrying cocaine when he fled a city police officer trying to arrest him outside a near-downtown convenience store last month,...
