Anthony Carter
Jury selection is scheduled to get underway at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 22 for the trial of an Indianapolis man accused of shooting his former live-in girlfriend to death.
Anthony W. Carter, 50, is charged with murder for the April 16, 2023 killing of 40-year-old Ashley Neville. She was killed inside her home along County Road 650S, northeast of Azalia, with the cause of death ruled as a gunshot wound to the head, according to court documents.
Twelve jurors and three alternates will be chosen from a jury pool of about 120, according to Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay. She anticipates jury selection will take the entire day, and anticipates opening statements will be held on Wednesday morning, Oct. 23.
Court officials have estimated the trial will take about one-and-a-half weeks, but Holden-Kay describes that as a “worst case scenario.” She expects the case will go to the jury sooner than the court anticipates.
While being questioned by detectives, Carter claimed a small pistol fired and struck Neville as he was attempting to grab it away from her, according to a probable cause affidavit.
A family member told investigators that Carter had been living with Neville for about a year. But at the time of the murder, there was a no-contact order intended to keep the defendant away from the victim, investigators said.
When deputies arrived at Neville’s home, they found most windows covered up, a padlock securing the front door and a brown book case blocking the back door, according to the affidavit. There was no answer after officers repeatedly knocked on the door, the court document states.
Early that afternoon, neighbors reported seeing a suspicious male in a wooded area near the victim’s home. After deputies set up a perimeter and brought in a police dog, Carter was found hiding in the woods and taken into custody without incident, according to the affidavit.
Testimony is likely to be given by two mental health experts, Dr. Kevin Hurley and Dr. George Parker, who examined the defendant last spring. However, such expert testimony in Indiana is considered just an opinion, and not conclusive in any way.
The last murder trial in Columbus was held in February 2023. Patrick Doyle was found guilty in Bartholomew Circuit Court of the August, 2021 killing of his live-in girlfriend, Heather Ann Steuver. He received an 85-year sentence.
The last capital murder jury trial was for a quadruple homicide occurred on May 11, 2013, in Waynesville.
After two hours of deliberation, a Bartholomew Circuit Court jury convicted Samuel E. Sallee on Feb. 19, 2015 of killing Katheryn M. Burton, Thomas W. Smith, Aaron T. Cross and Shawn L. Burton. Two months later, Sallee was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life without parole.
