Myers' appeal denied

The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday denied an appeal of John Myers II, the man convicted of murdering IU student Jill Behrman.

Myers was first convicted on Oct. 30, 2006, and sentenced to 65 years in prison on Dec. 1 of the same year.

Myers’ defense team filed for a petition to transfer and bring the case to the Indiana Supreme Court on Sept. 10, 2008. This appeal was denied.

“This matter has come before the Indiana Supreme Court on a petition to transfer jurisdiction following the issuance of decision by the Court of Appeals,” Chief Justice Randall Shepard wrote in his opinion on the case. “The court has reviewed the decision of the Court of Appeals. ... Being duly advised, the court now denies the appellant’s petition to transfer of jurisdiction.”

His former lawyer, Patrick Baker, had requested a new trial for his client on Dec. 29, 2006, on the grounds that the defense was not told about a piece of evidence the prosecution used in the trial.

Myers then fired Baker and asked for public defense, which, Baker told the IDS in 2007, was for financial reasons. His request for a new trial was denied on Feb. 13, 2007.

Following this rejection, Myers and his defense filed for another appeal on March 13, 2007. The IDS reported that the appeal came through on Sept. 27 of that year.
On May 30, 2008, the original hearing was upheld.

“Today we state once again that a defendant is entitled to a fair trial, not a perfect trial,” Court of Appeals judge Christopher Burnham wrote in his opinion on the case. “Concluding the imperfections in the murder trial of John Myers II did not deprive him of a fair trial, we affirm.”

The last option Myers has is to petition for an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.