Cummings to announce death penalty decision
Aug. 16—ANDERSON — A decision is expected to be announced Wednesday on whether the death penalty will be sought in the murder of Elwood police officer Noah Shahnavaz.
Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday that will include Chief Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Hanna, the Shahnavaz family, Indiana State Police superintendent Doug Carter and Elwood Police Chief Jason Brizendine.
Shahnavaz was killed in the early morning hours of July 31 after making a traffic stop on Ind. 37 near the intersection with County Road 1000 North.
Anderson resident Carl Roy Webb Boards II, 42, was arrested in Hamilton County shortly after the incident.
Boards is charged with murder with a firearm enhancement, two counts of resisting law enforcement, unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious convicted felony and being a habitual offender.
Last week Cummings told members of the Madison County Council that a death penalty case could cost up to $400,000.
He requested an additional $50,000 in the 2023 budget in anticipation of the filing of the death penalty against Boards.
The last death penalty case in Madison County took place in the trial of Fred Baer for the 2004 death of a Lapel mother and her 7-year-old daughter.
Baer initially was sentenced to death for the murders on June 9, 2005, but that sentence was overturned by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The U.S. Court of Appeals cited ineffective legal counsel for failing to object to jury instructions that kept the jury from considering mitigating circumstances.
The U.S. Court of Appeals ordered Baer be resentenced in Madison Circuit Court Division 6.
Baer admitted to the crimes at the time of his 2005 trial and agreed to a plea agreement of life imprisonment without parole for both murders in 2019.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
