Appeals court upholds Muncie man's murder conviction
MUNCIE, Ind. — A state appeals court this week upheld a Muncie man's murder conviction.
A Delaware Circuit Court 1 jury in June 2021 found William C. Balfour III, now 23, guilty in the slaying, nearly six years earlier, of Christian Michael Orebaugh, 18.
The teenager was fatally shot, in the back, during an attempted robbery in his West 23rd Street home on July 2, 2015. Prosecutors said Balfour and others had intended to steal drugs, cash and gun from the victim.
Judge Marianne Vorhees sentenced Balfour to 60 years in prison.
At the July 2021 sentencing hearing, the judge said she did not believe the would-be bandits planned to kill Orebaugh, but added that the victim "did not deserve to be shot."
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Chief Deputy Prosecutor Zach Craig called the slaying "disturbing and heinous," and maintained Balfour had been the "main actor" in the events that led to the homicide.
In a 3-0 ruling released Monday, the Indiana Court of Appeals rejected arguments by Balfour and his attorney, Brandon Murphy, that contended in part that Vorhees should not have allowed testimony about the defendant's phone conversations, while he was awaiting trial, in the Delaware County jail.
Balfour's appeal also referred to the testimony of a co-defendant and dealings between that witness and prosecutors.
One of Balfour's co-defendants, his cousin Daveon Hendricks, was also convicted of murder, in 2019, and received a 55-year sentence.
Another co-defendant, Darius Anthony Covington, pleaded guilty to aiding, inducing or causing robbery resulting in serious bodily injury. In August 2021, he was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison.
Balfour is incarcerated at the Miami Correctional Facility north of Kokomo. According to a state Department of Correction website, he has a projected release date in August 2062.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Appeals court upholds Muncie man's murder conviction
