An Indianapolis man will remain incarcerated after Attorney General Todd Rokita’s appeals team successfully argued to uphold his conviction and life-without-parole sentence in a horrific domestic murder case.
In a unanimous decision, the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed the murder conviction and life imprisonment without parole sentence of Anthony Wayne Carter for the 2023 killing of his girlfriend, Ashley Neville, in Columbus, Indiana. The Court rejected Carter’s appeals challenging the denial of a lesser-included jury instruction on reckless homicide and the sufficiency of evidence for the statutory torture aggravator.
Carter was convicted of murder after evidence showed he intentionally hastened Neville’s death through asphyxiation after shooting her. The Supreme Court found no error in the trial court’s rulings and confirmed that sufficient evidence supported the torture aggravator under Indiana law.
“Here we have a real piece of work who not only shot his girlfriend, but then tortured her afterwards, hastening her death by asphyxiation,” Attorney General Rokita said. “I’m grateful that the court has listened to my appeals team, who did a great job in making sure that this guy’s conviction of life without parole stands, and he’s not going to get out of jail during his lifetime. That’s a great result for the state of Indiana, and it’s something that every Hoosier ought to be thankful for and be proud of.”
Attorney General Rokita particularly thanked Angela Sanchez, his chief counsel of appeals, and Sierra Murray, the supervising deputy attorney general who handled this particular case.