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Bob Kasarda
A Long Beach man, convicted in the 2012 shooting death of his wife during a dispute at their home, lost his sixth appeal in just over a decade.
The Indiana Court of Appeals rejected John Larkin's claim that his attorney during the 2019 trial "performed ineffectively in defending him."
The claim was rejected by the post conviction relief court and that decision was upheld by the court of appeals.
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Larkin, 59, was sentenced to serve two years after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the Dec. 11, 2012, shooting death of Stacey Larkin.
The case, which the appellate court said "quickly developed a lengthy procedural history," involved the Indiana Supreme Court overruling an acquittal in 2020 by the court of appeals and restoring the original guilty verdict against Larkin, including his yet to be served two-year prison sentence.
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Larkin was released from the Indiana Department of Correction on Nov. 1, 2022, records show.
Justice Mark Massa, writing for the Supreme Court, concluded it was acceptable for Special Judge Roger Bradford to permit the LaPorte County prosecutor to add a charge of involuntary manslaughter immediately prior to closing arguments, even though Larkin's entire 2019 trial was focused on a charge of voluntary manslaughter.
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Under Indiana law, voluntary manslaughter is knowingly or intentionally killing another person while under "sudden heat," or an instant burst of rage or anger, while involuntary manslaughter means killing a person while committing battery, which by statute is knowingly or intentionally touching another person in a rude, insolent or angry manner.
Massa said involuntary manslaughter was a factually included lesser offense throughout Larkin's trial because the charging document alleged Larkin knowingly or intentionally killed his wife with a handgun, and Massa said shooting a person can be classified as a battery.
The high court justices also rejected Larkin's claim of not receiving fair notice of the involuntary manslaughter charge because they held both types of manslaughter were based on the same means: the handgun.
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During the rest of the ride to jail, the accused threatened violence against the trooper and his family, and claimed she was related to several Chicago police officers, according to ISP.
According to court records, Stacey Larkin, 41, was shot twice in her bedroom while struggling with John Larkin over a defective gun that DNA evidence showed Stacey Larkin removed from a bedroom safe.
John Larkin claimed the gun discharged the first time when Stacey ran at him and they fell. She reportedly then jumped up, grabbed his head and scratched his face. He pushed her away, and the gun discharged a second time as he fell on her, court records state.
Larkin argued he did not knowingly shoot Stacy, it was an accident, and a person in Indiana has a right to use deadly force if he believes the force is necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to himself or another person.
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Bob Kasarda
Porter/LaPorte County Courts and Social Justice Reporter
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