A man found guilty of killing a Southport police officer requests a retrial

Indianapolis, Indiana – The defendant who was found guilty in 2017 of killing a Southport police officer is requesting a new trial from the court through his attorneys.

Jason Brown is requesting that the court reverse his conviction for the murder of Lieutenant Aaron Allan on July 27, 2017.

After a bench trial in 2022, Brown was found guilty; however, he filed an appeal, arguing that the state had breached his right to due process by failing to preserve a blood sample and relying instead on the examination of a urine sample.

Brown also believed the state presented insufficient evidence that he “knowingly or intentionally killed Lieutenant Allan.”

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed Brown’s conviction in a 3-0 ruling in an October judgment. From the end:

The State did not violate Brown’s due process right to a defense when it did not preserve Brown’s blood sample because the State never possessed Brown’s blood sample. Further, any error in the admission of Brown’s urinalysis was harmless because there existed sufficient evidence outside of the urinalysis to disprove his defense. Finally, the State presented sufficient evidence to rebut Brown’s defense and prove that he committed murder. Accordingly, we affirm.

In their request for a new trial, Brown’s defense team stated that they expected alcohol to be a major factor in their case against him. But according to lawyer Ann M. Sutton, the cops did not obtain the evidence or take a blood sample promptly.

“As a matter of policy, the prosecutor and the police should not benefit from failing to collect critical yet routine evidence,” Sutton wrote in the petition.

Judge Mark Stoner found Brown guilty of murder and possession of marijuana after a bench trial. Brown was spared the death penalty and sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Sutton petitioned the court once more to overturn Brown’s conviction on the grounds that his constitutional rights had been infringed.