State Glance
Jury convicts man of killing woman, kids, suggests life term
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A jury convicted a man Thursday of killing a woman and her three children last year in their northeastern Indiana home and recommended he serve life in prison without parole. The Allen County jury found Cohen Hancz-Barron of Fort Wayne guilty of four counts of murder following a seven-day trial in the June 2021 deaths of his girlfriend and her three children. Hancz-Barron, 22, showed no emotion and stared at Allen County Superior Court Judge Fran Gull as she read the verdicts Thursday morning, The Journal Gazette reported. Deliberations began Wednesday without the jury reaching a verdict. Jurors resumed deliberations Thursday before reaching a verdict. Jurors deliberated further before returning to the courtroom with a recommendation that Hancz-Barron serve a sentence of life in prison without parole, as prosecutors requested. Once the sentence recommendation was announced, relatives of the four victims waited for prosecutors Tom Chaille and Tesa Helge and lead homicide detective Brian Martin on the second floor of the Allen County Courthouse, bursting into applause once they appeared. Hancz-Barron chose not to return to the courtroom for the sentence recommendation. Gull set sentencing for Aug. 5. Hancz-Barron was accused of using a knife to kill his girlfriend, Sarah Nicole Zent, 26; her sons, Carter Matthew Zent, 5; Ashton Duwayne Zent, 3; and daughter, Aubree Christine Zent, 2, in their Fort Wayne home. All four died of stab wounds, and the mother also had been strangled, the Allen County coroner said. Hancz-Barron was arrested hours later at an apartment complex in Lafayette more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from where the bodies were found.
Indiana's total gas tax staying 56 cents a gallon for June
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s sales tax charged on gasoline will barely change next month despite the recent sharp increase in gas prices. A calculation released Thursday by the Indiana Department of Revenue sets the state sales tax charged on gas at 24 cents a gallon for June. The rate charged during May is 24.1 cents a gallon. The steady sales tax rate means the state’s total gas tax will remain about 56 cents per gallon. Many Indiana Democrats say that since state government has nearly $6 billion in cash reserves, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb should issue an emergency order suspending the gas tax or call a special legislative session so the GOP-dominated Legislature could take such action. Holcomb says he doesn’t have authority to suspend the taxes. Indiana has two taxes on gasoline — the 7% state sales tax and a tax directed to infrastructure projects. The road projects tax that’s currently 32 cents a gallon is set to go up by 1 cent in July.