Convicted man to remain jailed though judge vacated jury verdict

BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY, Ind. — Jason Hubbell entered Bartholomew County Circuit Judge Kelly Benjamin’s courtroom clad in a red Indiana Department of Correction jumpsuit, cuffed at his wrists and ankles, to hear a table of four attorneys argue with the Court that he should be sent home while the prosecutor appeals the judge’s decision to vacate his murder conviction.

While Judge Benjamin ruled last month that Hubbell didn’t get a fair trial in 1999 for the killing of Sharon Myers of Columbus two years earlier, she wouldn’t release him from prison or grant him bond while Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Key appeals the vacated ruling to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

The murder of Myers precluded the killing of Kelly Eckart of Franklin, but just a few months in 1997.

Both women were strangled by ligature and their bodies were dumped in the woods of Camp Atterbury.

Accounts of witnesses, not investigated by Columbus Police or provided to the defense by the Bartholomew County Prosecutor, indicated that Michael Dean Overstreet, who was convicted and sent to Death Row for the killing of Eckart, could have been implicated in the murder of Myers.

Judge Benjamin found that Hubbell’s right to a fair trial was violated by the failure to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense and vacated the murder conviction, ruling that a new trial would be in order.

Hubbell’s defense team petitioned the Court to release its client on bond pending appeal of the vacate order.

“People committed misconduct…to undermine the integrity of due process,” argued defense attorney Kevin Murphy citing 15 issues, any one of which he claims would result in upholding the vacate order. “There is zero percent chance your order will be reversed.”

The prosecutor said that the judge’s vacate order did not find any evidence that Hubbell didn’t commit the murder.

The judge agreed, indicating the evidence that was presented at trial “was not tainted.”

While finding that her ruling would be “difficult for two families,” Judge Benjamin said she would leave it up to the Court of Appeals to determine if Hubbell should be released from prison while the State’s appeal proceeds.