Protests over police brutality against Black men and women shook downtown Indianapolis during the summer of 2020.
The city becameone of dozens of hotspots across the country after a cellphone video showedGeorge Floyd, a Black man, dying in police custody after a Minneapolis Police Department officer kneeledon his neck.
The bulk of the arrests in Indianapolistook place between May 29 and May 31. That weekend, two people were killed downtown as riots broke out at night.Storefrontswereupendedby vandalism and looting.
3 hours, 2 killings and a robbery: Tracing violence during riots
“Indianapolis, we are better than this,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department chief Randal Taylorsaidon May 30during a news conference.“Downtown is not safeat this time. Residents who do not live in the downtown area, we’re asking to please vacate the area.”
According to IndyStar’s reporting, 119people were arrestedthat weekend. Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears’ office decided to bring charges against 27 of them, including three individuals who were charged in connection with the two downtown homicides.
Sowhat happened to those 27 people? And where were they all from?
The most common charges from that weekend were burglary and theft,according to an IndyStar review of data provided by the prosecutor’s office.Fourteenpeople received a felony burglary charge, seven people received a misdemeanor theft charge, and four people received a felony theft charge due to the higher value of goods they stole.
Eight people were charged with resisting law enforcement, four were charged withdisorderly conduct, andthree were charged withcriminal mischief damage. Three people also received charges for battery against a public safety official.
Of those 27 people, many of them face multiple charges.
To date, 10of the cases have beendecided.Seven of those 10individuals received a mix of community corrections and probation sentences rangingfrom73 days to threeyears.
Three of the 10sawalltheir chargesdismissed. One individual had been charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor theft, resisting law enforcementand criminal mischief.
Another individual whose charges were dismissedhad beencharged with misdemeanors of carrying a handgun without a license, riotingand disorderly conduct. The thirdperson had beencharged with criminal mischief.
The remaining 17 people who were charged are still awaiting trials or hearings.
Most of the 27individuals were local. Twenty-onecamefrom Indianapolis.
A few were associated with addressesfrom other parts of the state. One was fromBloomington, another person was from Bargersville, and another person was from Anderson.
Only twopeoplewerenot associated with Indiana addresses. One wasconnected to anaddress in North Carolina, and the other with an address in Illinois.
Prosecutor Mears told IndyStar that filing charges for the events that transpired that tumultuous weekend has been hampered by the pandemic.
“It’s beendifficult to resolve cases over the last couple of months just because of people's’ ability to access the courts,” Mears said. The Indiana Supreme Court delayed in-person jury trials at multiple times in 2020 because of the risks presented by COVID-19. Those suspensions are currently in place untilMarch 1.
Three charged with murder
Three of the27people who were charged are accused of being involved in a string of robberies and two separate homicides.
Tyler Newby, 30, is charged with murdering 18-year-old Dorian Murrell. Murrell was killed by a gunshot wound at about2:20 a.m. on May 31, near North Pennsylvania and East Market. Newby's lawyerhasclaimed he acted in self defense, and investigators have said they believe Murrell was involved in a robbery that evening.
Newby has been out on bail sinceAugust,andhas a jury trial tentatively scheduled for Feb. 22. That will likely get pushed out further because ofthe Indiana Supreme Court’s most recent jury trial suspension order from December.
Man charged in murder of Chris Beaty has upcoming trial date
Another individual, Marcus Jayon Anderson, 23, is charged with murderfor his suspected role in the shooting death of local entrepreneurand ex-IU football player Chris Beaty on May 30.Beaty was shot and killed that evening while trying to protect two womenwho were attacked outside his downtown apartment.
Farewell to 'Mr. Indianapolis': Funeral pays tribute to Chris Beaty
Anderson is alsocharged with armed robbery and pointing a firearm in connection with three robberies that occurred in the area of 400 North Talbott and Vermont streets the same night.His murdertrial is also tentatively scheduled for Feb. 22.
Alijah Joneswas arrested in connection to the string of robberies and both Beaty and Murrell’s murders that weekend. He is charged witharmed robbery, criminal confinement, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious felon.
Jones has beenout on bond since November.His jury trial is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 17.
IndyStar reporters Shari Rudavsky, Elizabeth DePompei and Justin L. Mack contributed.
Call IndyStar courts reporter Johnny Magdaleno at 317-273-3188 or email him atjmagdaleno@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @IndyStarJohnny.
