Judge throws out statements in highway sniper trial

BROWNSTOWN, Ind. – Statements to police made by a teenager accused of killing one man and wounding another in a series of highway sniper shootings cannot be admitted as evidence in the teen’s upcoming trial, a judge has ruled.\nJackson Circuit Court Judge William E. Vance ruled Thursday that Zachariah Blanton’s statements on July 25, 2006, are inadmissible because his grandfather, as his legal guardian, was in police custody when he gave officers permission to interview his grandson.\nBlanton, 18, is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 31 on charges of murder, attempted murder and criminal recklessness.\nThe Gaston teen is accused of firing his hunting rifle into Interstate 65 traffic from an overpass on a Jackson County road near Seymour about 60 miles south of Indianapolis on July 23, 2006.\nOne of those shots went through a pickup truck’s windshield and killed a passenger, Jerry L. Ross, 40, of New Albany. An Iowa man traveling in another pickup truck also was injured.\nBlanton, who was 17 at the time, was arrested at his home two days later.\nIn order to interview the teenager, Indiana State Police and Delaware County sheriff’s deputies had to first gain consent from Blanton’s grandfather, Charles Blanton, who was the teenager’s legal guardian.\nThe judge ruled, however, that Charles Blanton was unable to give “voluntary and/or independent” consent because the grandfather himself was in custody on suspicion of obstructing justice.\nCharles Blanton’s decision could have been the result of him looking out for his own best interest rather than his grandson’s, Vance wrote in his order.\n“Law enforcement placed him in a circumstance where, whether articulated or not, his future in the criminal justice system could have been affected by his cooperation or lack thereof with the very efforts and objectives the investigators were pursuing,” Vance wrote.\nDelaware County Prosecutor Mark McKinney and Sheriff George Sheridan said Friday that the grandfather was never arrested nor was he in custody when he consented on the teen’s behalf.\nAccording to jail records, Charles Blanton was never booked into the Delaware County jail.\nBut in his order, Vance disputed that Charles Blanton was never arrested, writing “there is no doubt he was arrested.”\nAlso this week, Vance rejected a bid by defense attorneys to have the rifle seized from the Blanton home declared inadmissible at trial.\nThat weapon matched bullet fragments pulled from vehicles shot along I-65 and on Interstate 69 near Muncie a few hours later. No one was injured in the I-69 shootings.\nAfter the shootings, Zachariah Blanton’s grandmother, Patricia Ann Blanton, was jailed on a preliminary charge of obstructing justice for allegedly hiding her grandson’s rifle in the attic of the family’s home.\nA woman who answered the phone at Charles Blanton’s home Friday said the family would not be talking with the media until the case was settled, but told a reporter for The Star Press of Muncie that “you can go by what the judge said.”\nMcKinney told the newspaper he could not comment on whether the teenager’s inadmissible statements were confessions.\nAt some point, though, Blanton did confess to the shooting and provided police with details, according to statements made by Indiana State Police Sgt. John Kelly in a July probable cause hearing in Jackson Circuit Court.\nBlanton allegedly told police he fired the shots to relieve pressure after he argued with fellow participants in a southern Indiana hunting trip.