Charges filed against 7 people for recent homicides: MCPO

INDIANAPOLIS — Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears thanked the community for their support in providing information to investigators to help build homicide cases.

On Wednesday, Mears announced that his office filed charges against 7 people for their role in Indianapolis homicides. The cases stem from March 1 through April 30.

The following individuals were charged on Sunday, May 1:

Jalen Frierson and Hakeem Jackson were charged for their alleged roles in the April 23 shooting death of Eric Preer.

The following individuals were charged on Monday, May 2:

David Villanueva has been charged for the April 25 shooting death of Tyvon Moore.

Eric Futrell has been charged for his alleged role in the April 30 stabbing death of Bobbie Hill.

Jason Rhea has been charged for the March 1 shooting death of Dai-Ghia Hogan.

The following individuals were charged on Tuesday, May 3:

Anthony Spearmon, 16, and Comfort Glass, 17, have been charged their alleged roles in the April 22 fatal robbery of Jahmal Houston.

“In one case we relied very heavily on social media records, a lot of Instagram records," Mears said. "In another case it was DNA records."

Mears said typically homicide cases last more than a year and today’s filing is the first step towards resolution in these cases.

“We have a lot of the information we need to turn it over to the defense and they need to digest it and do their own discovery,” Mears said.

In 2019, 49 Murder cases were tried to verdict with a 73% conviction rate.

In 2020, nine murder cases were tried to verdict with a 100% conviction rate.

In 2021, 31 murder cases were tried to verdict with a 84% conviction rate.

Since January 2022, the MCPO has resolved 22 murder cases with a 90% conviction rate

“We are hoping those types of community investments help establish a relationship with people in the community who are willing to trust the prosecutor’s office and who are going to talk about the worst moment in their life,” Mears said.