INDIANAPOLIS MAN FACES UP TO 30 YEARS IN MURDER PLEA DEAL
An Indianapolis man could face up to 30 years after signing a long-awaited plea deal for a June 2019 slaying.
Ivan Malone, 29, pleaded guilty, but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter in documents filed Wednesday.
If a judge accepts, his sentencing hearing is April 22.
Malone is accused of fatally shooting his uncle’s friend, Ervin F. Pirtle, 49, of Gary as they were riding in a van in the city after a night of drinking.
GARY MAN FACES UP TO 6 YEARS FOR FATAL STABBING
A Gary man faces up to 6 years for a fatal stabbing.
Justin Turner, 33, pleaded guilty in documents filed Friday to a reckless homicide.
A judge would have to review and accept the plea deal. A sentencing date is set for June 4.
Turner, who is “legally blind”, said he swung his knife at victim Dennis “Khalifa” Robinson in January 2022 after he felt himself being punched as he was leaving a friend’s house.
A friend told police five people were at his house Sunday, celebrating Turner’s birthday. The man’s older relative was asleep elsewhere in the home. The evening was uneventful until the end when Turner and Robinson appeared to get into a physical fight. The man said he stepped in to break it up.
TRIAL FOR GARY COUPLE’S SLAYING SET FOR APRIL
A defendant in a triple shooting — including a Gary couple’s 2024 deaths — appears headed for trial in April.
Derrick Pouncey, 36, of Gary, is charged with several felonies, including two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
A judge rejected his defense lawyer’s bid to reschedule the trial Thursday, court filings show.
The victims — Klorya Williams, 32, his girlfriend’s sister, and Kyle Williams, 31, her husband — were well known domestic violence awareness advocates. They were found shot to death on April 10, 2024 on the 2200 block of Roosevelt Street. A third man, Klorya’s sister’s fiance who got into a gunfight with Pouncey, was found wounded and paralyzed outside. The couple was going to grab the sister’s kids after a fight with Pouncey.
A Gary Police officer testified at a hearing in June that officers responded three times the night of the shooting.
EX-VALPO CROSSING GUARD POSTED BOND IN SOLICITATION CASE
A former Valparaiso crossing guard was released last week after he posted a $4,000 bond in his child solicitation case.
James Jovanovic, 75, of Valparaiso, faces three felony charges of child solicitation after, according to charging documents, he spent two months texting a 15-year-old boy in Gary trying to arrange a hookup.
His next hearing is June 4.
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Post-Tribune archives contributed.