Wrongful death trial in student’s shooting begins

INDIANAPOLIS – The wrongful death lawsuit against a former Ball State University police officer who fatally shot a student in 2003 was set to go to trial Tuesday.\nThe trial in the case against Robert Duplain will be held in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.\nMichael McKinney, 21, of Bedford, was shot four times by Duplain, who was responding to a report of a stranger pounding on the door of a house in Muncie early on Nov. 8, 2003. Tests later showed that McKinney had a blood-alcohol content of 0.34.\nThe lawsuit filed by Timothy McKinney, Michael’s father, alleges that Duplain first shot the student twice in the back and side while he was facing away from him, then ran up and shot him twice more after he turned around.\nThe defense contends that Duplain fired only after McKinney charged at him.\nJudge Richard Young has ruled that the key issues in the trial will include whether McKinney charged Duplain, whether Duplain sufficiently alerted McKinney to his presence and whether Duplain acted reasonably in shooting McKinney four times.\nThere was no telephone number for Duplain in published listings and he could not be reached for comment.