State appeals court upholds Muncie man's murder conviction

Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press
·2 min read

MUNCIE, Ind. — A state appeals court on Thursday upheld a Muncie man's murder and conspiracy convictions and the resulting 50-year prison term.

Last March, a Delaware Circuit Court 5 jury found Doyle Reginald Wilson Jr., now 29, guilty of charges stemming from the fatal shooting — on Feb. 9, 2017 — of 20-year-old Zackary Mason Farmer of Middletown.

Muncie police block the perimeter of an early morning homicide on Feb. 9, 2017, in the 800 block of West Main Street.
Muncie police block the perimeter of an early morning homicide on Feb. 9, 2017, in the 800 block of West Main Street.

Prosecutors said Wilson and his cousin, Marcus D. Hanyard, and others had planned an armed home invasion of a home along West Main Street in Muncie, intending to steal drugs and cash.

Farmer was visiting the home at the time of the attempted robbery, and was fatally wounded when gunfire broke out.

More:Muncie man gets 50 years for murder; makes racism, innocence claims

At his sentencing hearing, Wilson contended he had been convicted "of a crime that I had absolutely nothing to do with." The Muncie man, who is Black, also said racism had been a factor in the case.

In an appeal, Wilson contended Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. — who imposed his 50-year sentence — should not have allowed "a co-conspirator's statements and certain cellphone records into evidence."

He also insisted there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for conspiracy to commit burglary.

In Thursday's ruling, the Indiana Court of Appeals rejected those arguments.

In the 3-0 decision, Judge Margret Robb wrote evidence was "more than sufficient to establish the existence of a conspiracy and support Wilson's conviction of conspiracy to commit burglary."

Wilson, incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, has a projected release date in June 2057.

In March 2018, a Circuit Court 5 jury found Hanyard, now 29, guilty of three charges stemming from the events leading to Farmer's death. He was later sentenced to 61 years in prison.

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: Muncie man's murder, conspiracy convictions upheld