Evan Schaffer
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Last updated on Thursday, August 16, 2018
(BEDFORD) - Testimony continues in Lawrence County Superior Court I in the murder trial of 23-year-old Evan Schaffer. Judge John Plummer III is presiding.
On Thursday at 4:04 p.m., Prosecutor Michelle Woodward rested the case for the state and Lawrence County Chief Public Defender David Shircliff began presenting Schaffer's defense.
Shircliff says he plans to conclude the defense Friday afternoon. Shircliff and his team, Woodward and her team and Judge Plummer will then begin the task of composing jury instructions.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday morning and then the jury will begin deliberating.
Evan Schaffer
Schaffer is accused of murdering 25-year-old Justin Lampkins at the Bedford McDonald's drive-through during the early morning hours of April 23, 2017. Schaffer, of Orleans, is accused of confronting Lampkins in the drive-through after someone allegedly honked a horn.
Justin Lampkins
Witnesses confirmed this week that there was an altercation between the two men with Schaffer reaching into the Lampkins' truck and striking him in the face. That altercation escalated with Lampkins exiting his truck with a tire knocker and confronting Schaffer. The confrontation ended with Schaffer pulling a gun and fatally shooting Lampkins in the chest.
Earlier Thursday morning, both the state and defense team held oral arguments on if and what could be presented during the testimony of Lawrence County Jail inmate Troy Sanders.
While in jail Sanders contacted Bedford Police Maj. Kevin Jones saying he had information about the case. But the defense says Sanders was making up the information so he could get a deal and be released from jail. The state denied that allegation saying no deal was ever made.
The defense was determined to prove Sanders made up the information so he could get out of jail to find the woman that he was in love with.
Judge Plummer ruled that only certain information on what Sanders could be asked could be presented in front of the jury.
Sanders testified that he was in the same cell block and shared a cell with Schaffer while serving time at the jail.
Sanders testified that he had not been promised any deal for his testimony. His next court date is scheduled on Sept. 11 at 1 p.m.
Sanders testified that he didn't like how Schaffer responded when he asked Schaffer if he had helped Lampkins after he shot him.
"There was a coldness," Sanders testified. "He said the guy brought a stick to a gunfight. What I wanted to know is if he helped the guy."
But the defense claimed Sanders was wanting to get out of jail to reunite with his girlfriend.
The jury saw photos of Sanders' jail cell where he had wrote the woman's name on the wall more than a 1,000 times.
Another former inmate, 31-year-old Tyler Richardson, testified that he too was in jail the same time as Sanders and Schaffer and shared the same cell block.
He testified that he never saw or heard Schaffer talk about his case to anyone.
"The only thing he said was he felt bad about what happened," Richardson testified.
Richardson also testified that Sanders was obsessed with finding his girlfriend.
While at rehab in Jeffersonville, Sanders called Richardson numerous times wanting money to go find her.
Bedford Police Major Brian Cartwright also testified on Thursday morning. He testified about collecting evidence on Patrick Robbins Way near State Road 37. This is where Franklin Lewis, the driver of the truck that Schaffer was in, was pulled over.
Cartwright testified to finding two guns at the scene - a 9 mm Ruger in the vehicle and a Taurus 9 mm about 18 feet from the truck on a weedy hillside.
Melissa Oberg, an Indiana State Police Forensic Firearms Examiner, Lorinda Gibbs, an ISP Forensic Latent Prints Examiner and Kimberly Marshall, an ISP Forensic Scientist DNA Analysis also testified. They testified that no fingerprints were found on the weapons and the DNA results linking the guns to Schaffer were inconclusive.
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