Bartholomew County Prosecutor faces 'Mount Everest' in attempting to refile vacated 1999 murder conv

BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY, Ind. - Joe Villanueva is the former Johnson County Prosecutor, but he's never seen a rebuke like the one Bartholomew County Circuit Judge Kelly Benjamin wrote last week vacating the 1999 murder conviction of Jason Hubbell for the killing two years earlier of Sharon Myers.




"Judge Benjamin went through and listed all the ways in which the defense was denied exculpatory evidence in the course of the investigation of the case leading up to trial and then even after the trial occurred that things were still not given to them," said Villanueva after reading the judge's opinion.




In an 83-page ruling, under consideration since a hearing for Petition for Post Conviction Relief last February, Judge Benjamin found that Columbus police repeatedly ignored leads that indicated Michael Dean Overstreet, convicted in the 1997 killing of Franklin College student Kelly Eckart, was also suspected of killing Myers, and CPD's and The Bartholomew County Prosecutor's refusal or inability to turn over significant exculpatory evidence violated Rules of Discovery and jeopardized Hubbell's right to a fair trial.




"These were things that were discussed in the judge's order that his original trial counsel had specifically asked for and they were simply not given to him," said Villanueva. "It's always better to hand that stuff over and deal with how it impacts the case later on than to not let that get out there."




More than a dozen times throughout her ruling, Judge Benjamin wrote that the exclusion or non-disclosure of several pieces of information was "suppressed by the State and favorable to Hubbell."




Some of that information included similarities between the Myers and Eckart murders, Overstreet's claim to an acquaintance that he was having an affair with a woman named Sharon in Columbus that resulted in the birth of a child three months before the killing, that he was on his way to Arvin Industries, Myers' place of work, to apply for a job the morning she disappeared and returned home that night "covered in blood," witness accounts of a man who resembled Overstreet with Myers, Overstreet's familiarity with the Camp Atterbury wilderness where both Myers and Eckart were killed and the Myers abduction van similar to a vehicle driven by Overstreet.




Hubbell was convicted based on carpet fiber evidence, an uncertain alibi at the time of Myers' abduction, his employment at Arvin Industries and shaky testimony by uncertain witnesses and persons facing their own criminal charges.




Judge Benjamin blamed "tunnel vision" for "CPD withholding material exculpatory evidence that either implicated Overstreet in the Myers' homicide and/or linked Overstreet to Myers," and that a detective's file was incomplete and "had all the information pertaining to Overstreet removed. This Court does not find that to be a coincidence."




The judge found the detective "intentionally failed to truthfully inform (Hubbell's trial attorney) of the information he was aware of linking Overstreet to Myers and implicating him in Myers' murder as an alternate suspect," and that the officer's "testimony was misleading."




"I think probably the most troublesome fact was one of the investigators who was involved in the case that seemingly withheld some important information," said Villanueva. "You do have people who are involved in the case still around, maybe some of these investigators, based on this judge's finding, their testimony is now tainted. Their credibility is greatly damaged by things that they said and did under oath."




Villanueva said the prosecutor will also face an uphill climb in resurrecting an investigation going back to 1997.




"Its almost like a Mount Everest, it really is," Villanueva said. "You're gonna have issues with witnesses, people maybe have passed away, maybe they've moved away, you can't find them anymore. For those you can find, maybe their memory isn't what it used to be. They don't record the events as well."




Much of the new evidence was discovered by Hubbell, who continued to work on his case from behind bars at the Pendleton Correctional Facility with the assistance of the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic.




In her ruling, Judge Benjamin wrote, "The State's failure to disclose the material exculpatory evidence undermines the confidence in Hubbell's guilty verdict and deprived Hubbell of his right to a fair trial."




The judge's decision does not find Hubbell not guilty, merely that his attorneys were denied information that could have been used to argue for a jury acquittal based on reasonable doubt.




Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Key last month refused comment on the pending case.




Judge Benjamin has set a hearing for Oct. 2 to determine if the prosecutor will appeal her ruling, seek a new trial, ask for more time or agree to set Hubbell free.




Lisa Davis told FOX59/CBS4 that, even though her brother has served nearly half of a 75-year prison sentence for a murder he claims he did not commit, Hubbell does express sympathy for the Myers family.




Davis said she is looking forward to bringing her brother home.




"Just to have him out here breathing fresh air and reconnecting with the earth, walking in the grass, I just can't imagine or never be able to figure out how it can take so long to prove somebody innocent when the evidence was so obvious back then that both murders were identical and it's about the same time period and just a couple miles apart."



via: https://fox59.com/news/bartholomew-county-prosecutor-faces-mount-everest-in-attempting-to-refile-vacated-1999-murder-conviction/