M.B. writing from Indiana
“I never had a chance to prepare a defense against all these elements.”
Location
Howard County, Indiana
Crime of Conviction
Reckless homicide;
Felony murder
Year of Conviction
2018
Legal claims
M.B. writes that he was charged with homicide in 2017, after he accidently shot and killed his friend while his friend was showing him how to use a gun. In preliminary jury instructions, the trial court read elements of the murder charge that the state brought ("knowingly or intentionally kill[ed]" the decedent) but then changed the final instructions to the elements of felony murder (which the State alleged occured during M.B.'s attempted robbery of the decedent). M.B. is asking for assistance because he never got to defend against the updated charge elements, as they were finalized in the jury instructions.
Procedural issues
M.B. filed a direct appeal in 2020. His conviction appears to have been affirmed.
Counsel
Lists a public defender as current counsel