Defendant's Bench Trial Gamble Pays Off
Because of the “gruesome” nature of the evidence in the murder case against him, Indianapolis murder suspect Jerone Bussey opted to rest his fate in the hands of a single individual.
Bussey waived his right to a jury trial and instead let Marion Superior Court Judge Patricia Gifford decide whether he was the triggerman responsible for the deaths of Wayne Carl Ailes, 42, Christina Denny, 24, and her fully developed fetus, the Indianapolis Star reports. Denny was reportedly shot multiple times in the abdomen. Her other children, ages 2 and 4, were also at home but unharmed.
None of the witnesses, however, could place Bussey at the 2007 crime scene, so Gifford granted a defense motion for directed verdict of acquittal.
While prosecutors maintain they had the right man, Bussey’s lawyer, Eugene A. Kress Jr. told the Star that police failed to consider other possible suspects and motives after locking in on Bussey. Kress argues that Denny’s wounds would indicate she was specifically targeted, an angle that didn’t fit in with the prosecution theory that Ailes was targeted because Bussey believed he was a police informant.
