MUNCIE, Ind. — A jury deliberated for lower than half-hour on Friday earlier than discovering a Delaware County man responsible of killing his neighbor.
Cy Erik Alley, 30, was discovered responsible of homicide within the August 2002 capturing loss of life of 59-year-old Gerald Lee Copley.
Each males resided alongside Delaware County Highway 500-N south of Albany.
Alley’s protection attorneys — Vincent Walker and Ron Smith — pursued an madness protection, and stated their consumer someway turned satisfied Copley was “hacking” into his electrical service at his house or his cellphone.
Alley additionally claimed the federal authorities had directed him to confront Copley about his considerations.
Extra: Delaware County man pursuing madness protection as trial in neighbor’s slaying begins
Prosecutors Eric Hoffman and Steve Sneed stated Alley twice went to the sufferer’s house on the day of the slaying. On his second journey there, he shot Copley 4 instances with a shotgun, together with a deadly blast to the top.
When he took the witness stand on Thursday, Alley claimed Copley was armed with a fence put up when he fired the shotgun blasts.
In his closing remarks to jurors on Friday, Hoffman famous no fence put up had been recovered within the wake of the murder.
“Make no mistake about this, of us,” the Delaware County prosecutor advised jurors. “This was a cold-blooded homicide. … This defendant had the nerve to come back in and inform you he was performing in self protection.”
Hoffman famous one of many shotgun blasts hit Copley within the again, and that the sufferer had collapsed earlier than he was shot within the face.
The prosecutor additionally recalled Alley had returned to his pickup truck and reloaded his shotgun earlier than standing over the sufferer and firing the deadly blast.
Hoffman stated in his preliminary interview with investigators, Alley stated nothing in regards to the sufferer being armed with a fence put up or that the capturing had someway been in self protection.
Two psychological well being professionals who examined Alley testified they didn’t consider he was legally insane on the time of the killing.
In his closing remarks Friday, protection legal professional Smith advised jurors that they, and never the court-appointed psychiatrist and psychologist, had “the final phrase” on whether or not his consumer had been insane.
Jurors had the choice of discovering Alley responsible however mentally ailing of homicide, however their responsible verdict didn’t consult with psychological sickness.
In Indiana, a homicide conviction carries a most 65-year jail time period.
Throughout a second section of the trial, the jury rapidly discovered Alley responsible of utilizing a firearm to commit against the law, making him eligible for an enhancement that would add as much as 20 years to his sentence.
Senior Decide Marianne Vorhees set sentencing for Oct. 16.
Whereas jurors in the course of the trial considered ugly photographs from the crime scene, Hoffman concluded his presentation Friday displaying {a photograph} exhibiting a smiling Copley — an outdoorsman who was married to spouse Pamela for 40 years and was the daddy of two kids — taken throughout a fishing outing.
“Nothing justified what occurred to that man,” the prosecutor stated.
Douglas Walker is a information reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This text initially appeared on Muncie Star Press: Jury finds Delaware County man responsible of homicide in shotgun slaying