INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court recently denied the request to transfer the jurisdiction of the case surrounding the death of Southport police officer Aaron Allan.
According to court documents recently filed by the Indiana Supreme Court, Jason Brown initially challenged his murder conviction with the Indiana State Court of Appeals, an appeal that Brown unanimously lost in October 2023.
This came after a 2022 bench trial where Judge Mark Stoner found Brown guilty and sentenced him to 58 years in prison, with three years suspended. Brown was convicted of shooting Allan after he got into an accident in July 2017. During the initial trial, Brown waived his right to a jury trial.
According to previous reports, Allan was the officer who checked on Brown after his vehicle had rolled over during the July 2017 accident. During that time, Brown was reportedly “agitated and fidgety” and shot Allan multiple times from a gun he had in his waistband after Allan tried to calm Brown down.
Attorneys argued at the time that Brown was disoriented during the incident and did not realize Allan was a police officer, something the trial court agreed with in its ruling. The appeal of the conviction claimed the state failed to preserve a blood sample and that the state did not present sufficient evidence that he “knowingly or intentionally killed Lieutenant Allan.”
In October 2023, the appeals court unanimously affirmed the trial court’s conviction, after which Brown’s legal team filed the petition to transfer the jurisdiction. In the petition, Brown argued he had ineffective assistance of counsel and because of COVID-19 restrictions and technology issues, he was denied a full and fair sentencing hearing.
The petition also claimed because of a lack of resources, Brown’s legal team failed to secure a consultation with a traumatic brain injury expert to testify on his behalf and failed to consult with an expert on hospital protocol for securing blood evidence. Brown also claims he did not wish to waive the right to trial by jury, stating he followed his attorney’s advice but did not agree it was in his best interest.
“The Court has reviewed the decision of the Court of Appeals, and the submitted record on appeal, all briefs filed in the Court of Appeals, and all materials filed in connection with the request to transfer jurisdiction have been made available to the Court for review,” the order from the Indiana Supreme Court reads. “…Being duly advised, the Court denies the petition to transfer.”
